One More Year
by GossipGirlHere
Summary: Rose and Scorpius have one more year at Hogwarts, during which they need to survive Quiditch, N.E.W.T.s, career choice, jealously and much more. But, this time, there is no James Potter to come to the rescue. 'Sequel to When Fate's on Vacation'.
1. Dinner

"Hi Mom!" called Rose as she entered the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie," said Hermione, "How was your date?"

"It was great!" she said, and Hermione could tell that Scorpius was the right guy for her, she was positively glowing.

"Oh, and Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy said that the eighteenth would be fine," said Rose, referring to the day that the Malfoy's would have dinner with them. "They said that if they come over the eighteenth then you need to come over to their house sometime in August."

"Oh, that's very generous of them; tell them it will be great."

"Okay," she went upstairs, to owl Scorpius.

_Dear Scorpius,_

_My parents are really looking forward to seeing yours on the eighteenth…well no, that's a lie, my mom is, but my dad just keeps trying to ignore it, like if nobody talks about it we won't really be dating. I'm sure he'll come around. He doesn't even mind you; it's just that he doesn't want to see your dad. Mom was over at your house while we were out the other day, did you know? Apparently her and your mom are becoming best friends. My parents are willing to take your parents' offer up on meeting in August, until then I'll see you tomorrow night for the big dinner. Does your dad still hate me, or is he resigned that he's coming to dinner tomorrow?_

_Love, Rose_

Rose sent the letter off with her owl, Rowan, and waited eagerly for a reply. After about twenty minutes Rowan came back with a letter from Scorpius.

_Hey Rose,_

_My mom did tell me that she likes your mom a lot, and I think that they have a lot in common. I'll bring up diner in August after we see how this one goes. I'm glad your dad doesn't hate me, and I hope he won't hate mine after tomorrow night. My dad doesn't really hate you, he just doesn't get why I like you. I'm positive he'll figure it out once he meets you, though. He doesn't much like the thought of meeting your dad either, and I think that hate is a strong, but slightly accurate, term in this circumstance. I'm really looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, despite how hectic it is likely to be. Don't worry, I'll make sure my dad is on his best behavior._

_Love, Scorpius_

Rose got out a quill and parchment to reply.

_I'm not worried, you'll be there. See you tomorrow night. Love you. Goodnight._

Rowan left and returned in a matter of minutes with Scorpius' letter.

_Love you._

Even though it hadn't been a full sentence those two words made Rose happier then any other. Feeling optimistic she got ready for bed.

The next evening everyone was getting ready for dinner. Hugo had been sent off to the Potters at Rose's insistence. She didn't want him around to screw everything up; things would be awkward enough as it was.

At eight o'clock the doorbell rang. Rose got up to get it, butterflies whizzing around in her stomach, while Hermione set out the home-made spaghetti.

"Hello Mr. Malfoy, Mrs. Malfoy," said Rose, but she was beaming at Scorpius, who was beaming right back.

"Hello Rose," said Astoria warmly, "it's lovely to see you again."

"Come on in," said Rose, letting Astoria and Draco pass. Astoria looked quite at home, while Draco was, not really glaring, but looking extremely stiff. Once his parents had passed safely into the dining room Scorpius gave Rose a quick kiss before taking her hand and leading the way into the dining room as well.

"Hello Astoria," said Hermione warmly, and to the shock of Ron and Draco the two women hugged, with no awkwardness to speak up.

"Draco, Astoria," said Ron stiffly, giving a nod to each, though not making eye contact. He had promised to make an effort for Rose, and he was going to try, the more he thought about it, the more he realized that he actually _liked_ Scorpius, whatever his last name was, and Harry approved, which meant that the kid couldn't be _that_ bad. However, nothing could erase the extreme dislike that he felt for Draco Malfoy.

Draco nodded stiffly at him.

They sat down to eat, and Astoria was quick to complement on Hermione's spaghetti, which was excellent. While the women, Rose, and Scorpius talked freely Ron and Draco sat staring determinedly at anyone but each other. When it was time for dessert a marvelous chocolate cake appeared. Scorpius was the first to say what everyone was thinking, it was delicious, beyond delicious.

"Oh, thank you, but I didn't make it," said Hermione, "Ron did."

At this Draco burst into an uncontrollable fit of hysteria.

"The weasel bakes!" he cried through peals of laughter. Ron began to turn red.

"Oh you're just jealous, because you know as well as I do that your cake doesn't taste nearly as good as this," said Astoria. It was Ron's turn to laugh and Draco's to look embarrassed. "Draco often enjoys baking, though he has no taste for cooking, I do that," said Astoria to Ron and Hermione.

"The ferret bakes!" said Ron, laughing, "and not even as well as I do."

"Ron," whispered Hermione angrily.

"Well, weasel," said Draco, looking livid.

"Come on," whispered Rose, "you want to go for a walk? Leave them to fight this out?"

"Sure," said Scorpius, and they left. None of the adults noticed, as Draco and Ron were still exchanging insults.

"Just when I thought it was going so well," said Rose, sighing as they walked hand-in-hand through the garden.

"Whatever, our moms will sort it out," said Scorpius, lifting their raised hands and gently kissing hers.

"I'm so glad that they're friends," said Rose.

They stopped to sit down on the edge of the small, tasteful fountain that was the center of Rose's garden. They looked out in silence over the garden, which was lit with fireflies, and had rose bushes everywhere. It was a magical moment, and not the type of magic they learned at school. This was a different, stronger magic.

"I love you," said Scorpius. It wasn't the first time that he'd said it, but it was still as full of meaning, sincerity, and love as it had been the first time.

"I love you too," said Rose with an equal amount of affection in her voice. They leaned in and kissed. It started slow and sweet, but soon turned more passionate, and there was no telling where it would have gone if Hermione and Astoria hadn't come out at that moment.

"You know," said Astoria as they broke apart looking embarrassed, "you're lucky we weren't your fathers." She and Hermione chuckled.

"Speaking of our fathers," said Scorpius, "Where are they?"

"Well," said Astoria looking at Scorpius, "your father just apparated home, and…" she trailed off looking at Hermione.

"And," continued Hermione, looking at Rose, "your father is in the library with The Prophet and a large glass of scotch."

Everyone laughed.

"We'd better get home," said Astoria getting up and leaving with Hermione.

Once they were gone Scorpius said, "You want to go out tomorrow?"

"Sure," said Rose brightly, "Lets go into Diagon Ally, we can get ice cream or something, stop at Flourish and Blotts."

"Sounds fun. Do you want to meet there at eleven?"

"Sure."

They leaned in to kiss goodbye, but after a moment Astoria's voice floated out from the house, "Scorpius! I _know_ what you are doing, and I _know_ that you will be seeing Rose soon, so get going!"

They walked back into the house holding hands and trying to look innocent.

"We were just making plans for tomorrow," said Rose sweetly.

"Uh huh…" said Hermione in a disbelieving tone.

"We weren't born yesterday," said Astoria, "Come one Scorpius. Lovely to see you both," she said to Hermione and Rose.

"So, coffee, next Friday?" confirmed Hermione.

"Definitely," said Astoria.

"Love you, bye!" called Scorpius as he and Astoria walked out into the hall.

"Love you!" called Rose just loud enough for him to hear.


	2. On the Train

**A/N: So here it is: Chapter 2!!! ENJOY!!!**

The summer was winding down and Rose was busily packing for her last trip to Hogwarts, which would take place the next day. She was very surprised when James entered her room. Her cousin, who had finished with Hogwarts the previous year, was perusing a career as a Gringotts curse breaker, like his Uncle Bill.

"Hey Rosie!" he called merrily as he entered.

"Don't call me 'Rosie'" she said, looking irritated.

"But Scorpius calls you 'Rosie'" said James innocently.

"Because he's my boyfriend, he's the only one that's allowed though. What do you want?"

"To wish you good luck. An entire year without me to get you out of trouble, what _will_ you do?"

"I'm sure I'll manage."

"You wouldn't have managed last year without me, now would you?"

Rose blushed.

"Just make sure to keep it together until the end of the year. No major fights, no nothing."

"Yes, mom," she said sarcastically.

"Good. Now I want you to keep an eye on Al, he's been mentioning a lot of girls lately, and I want to know what's up."

"I am _not_ going to spy on my cousin for you. Just because you meddle in other peoples' love lives doesn't mean that _I_ do."

"Last time I checked you weren't complaining. Just keep an eye on him, and help him if he needs it. You owe him one."

"I thought it was you who did all the work. You never fail to remind us."

"It was. You owe me ten." He corrected her with a wink, leaving Rose to finish her packing.

* * *

"Scorpius!!!" cried Rose, running up and giving him a hug and a quick kiss, ignoring her father, who was determinedly looking the other way.

"Hey Rosie," he said softly.

She noticed smugly that a Head Boy badge glittered on his chest. It looked just like hers.

"This year is going to be AMAZING!" she said, "Now that we're both Heads we share a private common room, and—"

However she was interrupted by Albus running over to them and saying "Scorpius! Rose!"

Rose and Scorpius, who had still had their arms around each other, broke apart to hug Albus.

"I _knew_ you guys would make Head Boy and Head Girl. I guess I won't be seeing you much, since you won't be in Ravenclaw Tower."

"Al! Did you _really_ think that we wouldn't let you in?" asked Scorpius, looking insulted.

"Can I know the password?" asked Al.

"No." said both Rose and Scorpius in unison.

"Alright everyone!!!" called Ginny to the threesome and to Lily and Hugo, who were talking a short distance away, "Onto the train!!!"

"Goodbye Rose!" said Hermione, hugging her daughter, "Have a great term."

"By sweetie," said Ron, hugging her as well, "Enjoy your year."

"I love you!" called Rose as she got on the train, and she heard both her parents chorus "We love you too!" in unison.

Grinning she turned to Albus and Scorpius and said, "Al, can you get a compartment? We need to give orders to the prefects, but it should only take a couple minutes, we don't actually have to patrol."

"Okay," said Albus, heading towards the end of the train.

When he arrived at an empty compartment he sat down and took out The Daily Prophet. He was reading for a few minutes before he heard the door slide open. Assuming it was Rose and Scorpius he didn't look up. He was reading about the Cannons loosing their last game of the season.

"Excuse me?" said a gentle voice. Albus looked up to see a beautiful girl who looked about his age standing in the doorway. "Can I sit here?"

It took him a minute to get his mouth to move. "Sure. I'm Albus Potter, but everyone calls me Al."

"I'm Annabel Smith. I'm in Hufflepuff, seventh year."

"Wait, did you say Smith? Who are your parents?"

"Zachariah Smith and Susan Bones."

"Oh, I knew I recognized the name! My parents are Harry and Ginny Potter."

"How come I've never seen you with the other Weasleys and Potters in Gryffindor?"

"I'm not in Gryffindor. My cousin and I are the only Weasleys and Potters who aren't. We're in Ravenclaw."

"Your cousin?"

"Rose Weasley. Oh, here she is!" Rose and Scorpius had just entered the compartment holding hands.

"Rose, Scorpius, this is Annabel Smith. Annabel this is my cousin Rose, and her boyfriend, my best friend Scorpius Malfoy."

Annabel raised her eyebrows slightly but did not comment on Scorpius' surname.

"It's nice to meet you," said Annabel, shaking both of their hands.

"Nice to meet you too," said Rose, and Scorpius nodded.

Rose looked between Annabel and Albus and said, "We just came to tell you that we have some Heads stuff to do, and that we won't be able to sit with you."

"What—" but Rose elbowed him in the ribs and Scorpius continued, "Yeah, Heads stuff…" and they left.

"Why aren't we sitting with them?" asked Scorpius as they made their way down the train."

Rose rolled her eyes, "Because I want them to get to know each other, wouldn't it be cute if they went out? Plus, now we can spend the ride _alone_."

Scorpius grinned at that. They found an empty compartment and spent the rest of the ride enjoying private time together, and placing bets on Al and Annabel's relationship.

**REVIEW!!! I want to know how you feel about the new character, what you think should happen, you guys are who I'm writing the story for, so tell me what you think!!!**


	3. Family Always Comes First

**A/N: Chapter 3!!! WHOOO!!! Here we start the drama!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!!! Virtual brownies (baked fresh) for all reviewers!!!**

**Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever, owned Harry Potter.  
**

Rose and Scorpius were sitting in the Heads' Common Room by the fire working together on their Arithmancy homework. They were both studying hard for the N.E.W.T.s and had received more homework than ever before in the first month of school.

"Where's Al?" asked Scorpius, looking up from his finished assignment.

"With Anna," said Rose, looking up at him, "They're out by the lake."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Since the train ride Annabel, or as they now called her, Anna, had become great friends with the trio, especially Albus, who had been blowing off a lot of study dates with Rose and Scorpius to hang out with her. At first they didn't mind, because they relished the alone time, however by the end of the first month they felt as though they had been replaces.

"I know, I wish they could hang out up here with us. I miss Al."

"Hopefully they'll start dating soon, then we can double date and stuff," said Scorpius.

"They'd _better_ get together soon. I'm thinking about writing to James."

"What?" Scorpius looked incredulous.

"He knows better than anyone how to get two stubborn people together." They both smiled knowingly.

"Why don't we wait a bit, and see how it plays out?"

"Okay," she said, looking a bit sad, "I just miss him."

"Aren't I good enough company?" asked Scorpius with a playful smirk.

"Hmm, let me think…" she leaned in to kiss him, smirking playfully, "Yes you're good enough company for now."

Homework forgotten, the couple spent a relaxing evening in each other's company, forgetting about Albus, and about everything but each other.

* * *

The next day Scorpius walked with Albus to the Great Hall, because Rose had had to rush off to ask Professor Longbottom a question about their Herbology essay.

"Hey Al?" asked Scorpius as they walked.

"Yeah?"

"What's going on between you and Annabel?"

"Nothing," said Albus, a little too quickly, looking defensive.

"_Sure,_ if it's nothing then why do you always sneak off with her?" said Scorpius. Albus muttered something incoherent and blushed. Scorpius let the subject drop. Albus would talk to him eventually, and if he didn't he had no doubt that Rose would make him. Thinking about how amazing his girlfriend was he continued on his way to the Great Hall, a new spring in his step.

When they reached the Great Hall Scorpius saw something that made his blood boil, and all thoughts about how wonderful his girlfriend was were quite forgotten.

Rose, _his_ Rose, was holding Lysander Scamander's hand! Holding his hand!

"Scorpius," said Albus, sensing what Scorpius was about to do, "Calm down mate. It probably isn't what it looks like."

But, predictably, Scorpius did not calm down. As Rose walked away from Lysander he cornered her saying angrily, "What was _that_?"

"What was what?" asked Rose, looking genuinely confused.

"Don't lie," he spat.

"Lie about what?" Rose looked more confused than ever.

"You and Lysander," Scorpius was getting angrier and angrier.

"What about Lysander?"

"Don't act like you don't know!" Scorpius was almost shouting, and Albus took the opportunity to drag him and Rose out of the Great Hall, where everyone was watching them, through the Entrance Hall, and out the front doors onto the grounds. He barely registered Clarice following carefully at a distance.

"Scorpius, _what_ are you talking about?" Rose was shouting too, clearly getting defensive.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" he bellowed back.

"Scorpius, what's wrong? Please tell me!" Rose looked close to tears, the fight going out of her. She hated it when Scorpius was mad, and the thought that she might be the cause made her sick.

"We're done! You didn't even have the decency to break up with me! You just went off behind my back! I can't believe you Rose! I thought you cared about me! I guess it was just another lie!"

"What?" Rose was trembling with sobs.

Scorpius didn't say another word, and walked away, towards, not the castle, but the lake. Only Albus saw the tears in his eyes. Albus was torn. Should he stay with Rose, who was crumpled on the ground sobbing, or go after Scorpius. Thankfully, Clarice stepped forward and said, "I saw the whole thing, go after him, I'll get Rose up to bed."

"Thanks!" called Albus, already running after Scorpius.

"Rose," said Clarice, "Rose! Get up, please. We're going up to your room."

Clarice half carried Rose up the marble stairs, taking every secret passage she knew to avoid the crowds of students. Finally they arrived on the seventh floor, at a portrait of a maiden, dancing in a field filled with wildflowers and butterflies. The contrast between the joyful picture and the Rose standing in front of it would have been comical if it had not been truly disturbing.

"What's the password?" asked Clarice.

"Devil's Snare," whispered Rose through her sobs, barely loud enough for the portrait to hear. Clarice got Rose up to her room, and into bed. Rose curled up in a ball still sobbing. Once she calmed down she asked, "I don't even know what I _did_!"

"I don't know that you did anything," said Clarice kindly.

Rose sobbed herself to sleep as Clarice whispered words of comfort to her. Afterwards Clarice left her, hoping to find Albus, but not before casting a charm for long-lasting, dreamless sleep on her best friend.

* * *

At the same time that Clarice was taking Rose to the Heads' Common Room Albus was chasing after Scorpius. He eventually found him, standing with his back against the whomping willow. The first thing Albus did was punch him. He was furious. Scorpius hadn't even given Rose time to explain, and even though Scorpius was his best friend, Rose was family. Family always, _always_, came first.

"What the _hell_ was that for?" bellowed Scorpius.

"You made Rose cry, Scorpius! _Cry_! You bloody git! You didn't even give her a chance to explain herself!"

"What was there to explain?" bellowed Scorpius, before he slumped up against the tree.

"I wouldn't know," said Albus coldly, "You didn't give her time to explain it."

"Al," Scorpius was pleading with Albus to understand, and Albus immediately took pity on his best friend and sat down beside him. "I thought everything was working out between us…" Scorpius looked miserable, lost, and confused.

"It might still be," said Albus, trying to comfort him.

"After the things I said, she'd be an idiot to forgive me. I knew I never deserved someone as amazing as her in my life."

"Scorpius," said Albus gently.

"Just go!" said Scorpius, looking anguished.

"Scor—"

"I _said _go!"

Albus walked away, feeling miserable. He needed to find Clarice, and hopefully he would run into Lysander on the way. He wanted the real story.


	4. Explanations

**A/N: This one is really short, but it explains everything that just happened. I will be updating soon though, don't worry, and then you can find out how this resolves it self, but this is by no means the end of Rose and Scorpius drama this year.**

**Disclaimer: ***Insert statement about not owning Harry Potter that makes me want to cry every time I write it*****

Albus ran all around the castle looking for Clarice. It was hours before he found her. He had been running upstairs to check Ravenclaw Tower, _again_, when he ran smack into her.

"Oh my God! I've been looking for you everywhere" panted Clarice, slumping against the wall. It was clear she had been running around as long, if not longer, than he had.

"What happened?" asked Albus "Was she really, you know…" he didn't really want to say _what_ Rose _could _have been doing; he wanted to show faith in his cousin.

"I don't think that anything _did_ happen," said Clarice, "In all honesty I don't really _know_ what it is we saw. We need to find Lysander and get this straightened out, _today_."

"Yeah, Scorpius has gone all morbid. It's like he's in a coma. He's been sitting by the same tree since this morning. I actually had to put my hand on his stomach to check if he was still breathing, and even then he didn't look at me or say a word. Just kept staring straight ahead."

"Rose might as well be in a coma. She hasn't gotten up in hours. She just keeps sobbing, curled up in a ball on the bed. She doesn't even have it in her to be angry. She's trying to figure out what she did. I thought about asking her about Lysander, but I feared for his life. If she thought it was his fault he wouldn't live to see tomorrow."

"Yeah, we're better off just asking him ourselves."

"You think he'd be at lunch?" asked Clarice.

"Yeah, probably." Without further ado they ran back down the stairs and into the Great Hall. They sped to the Ravenclaw table and stopped just short of plowing into Lysander, who was sitting next to Lorcan, Rachel, and Sydney. They all looked up at Albus and Clarice in shock and confusion.

"Hey guys," Lysander said uncertainly, "Is something wrong?"

"We need to talk to you," said Albus between pants.

"Now?" asked Lysander.

"It's _really_ important," said Clarice.

"Okay," and with that they got up and left the Great Hall. They stopped just outside the front doors. "What's going on, and why all the secrecy?" he looked nervous, like he had an idea of what was coming.

"It's Rose and Scorpius," said Albus, and Lysander paled, "they've broken up."

"Crap!" said Lysander, "This is all my fault."

"What happened?" asked Clarice, but Lysander didn't seem to be listing.

"He must have found out…"

"Found out what?" asked Albus, but Lysander still wasn't paying attention.

"I knew I shouldn't have done it…" groaned Lysander, still to himself.

"LYSANDER!!!" bellowed Clarice, "Tell us what the _bloody_ _hell_ happened!!!" Albus and Lysander stared. Clarice was usually a quite girl, so screaming wasn't something she did often. In fact, neither of the boys could ever recall hearing her scream before today.

"Well," said Lysander, "Rose came into the Great Hall this morning talking to Uncle Neville. Then when she finished…wait, no…I have to start before that. Since the end of fifth year, I've…well…" he looked embarrassed, "I've sort of had a crush on Rose."

"WHAT?" said Clarice and Albus in unison.

"She's so smart and funny. And, I see her a lot, you know, what with Quiditch and visiting you guys over the summer. It started coming on gradually, but through all of last year it got stronger and stronger. I knew she was dating Scorpius, so I decided to wait until they broke up, and then I'd have Rose all to myself, me and Lorcan are her closest guy friends after you and Scorpius. So, I saw her coming into the Great Hall, and for once she was alone, and, I don't know what came over me, but, I decided to tell her. I walked over to where she was standing after Uncle Neville left her and told her, flat out, that I liked her, and that I wanted her to choose me instead of Scorpius. She was terribly nice about it, but explained that she was in love with Scorpius and it wasn't going to change. Then, I saw _him_ come into the Great Hall," there was no doubt that '_him_' meant Scorpius. "I was jealous, I knew she'd run off to him and tell him everything, and then he'd hate me, and I didn't want that. I grabbed her hand, to ask her not to tell him, and she agreed. I saw him get all angry, and I guessed what he thought, but, I didn't really _care_ at the time. So then, I saw them go off in a fight, and some perverse part of me hoped that they'd break up, and that she would run crying to me. Then, I saw you drag her upstairs, and I felt terrible, but I was sure they'd get back together after Rose told him what really happened. But, I guess she's just too nice a person to tell him after she told me she wouldn't. I…I don't deserve someone as great as her, but neither does Scorpius…" he trailed off looking miserable.

Apparently it was Clarice's day to be shocking, because she went forward very slowly and deliberately and punched Lysander.

"Agh!!!" he cried, holding his jaw in pain.

"_That _is for Albus and me," she punched him in the gut, "_That_ is for Scorpius. And _this,_ this is for Rose," she kicked him, right where no guy _ever_ wants to be kicked…_ever_.

"Clarice," said Albus, pulling her back, "Don't kill the kid." However, Albus didn't look far from punching Lysander too.

After a minute or so Lysander got up and said, "Beating me up isn't going to change anything you know," he looked almost happy again, "They still aren't together," by the end he was gloating, "So in a way, she did chose me instead of him. She honored her promise to me, and it cost her her relationship with Scorpius."

This comment earned him a punch to the gut from Albus.

"Beating you up might not fix it, but you telling Scorpius _will_," said Clarice.

"Are you mental? You can't make me!" said Lysander.

"I don't need to," said Albus smugly.

"Yeah, right!" snorted Lysander, going back into the castle.

"Why don't you need to make him tell Scorpius?" asked Clarice.

"Two words," said Albus smugly, "McGonagall's pensive."

**REVIEW!!! PLEASE!!! I want to know what you think!!! I _know_ that you are reading this, so REVIEW!!! Virtual brownies still up for grabs...**


	5. Planning

**I don't own Harry Potter...how many times do I have to say it?!?!?!  
**

"Please Professor!" said Albus, he looked truly desperate.

"I'm sorry Mr. Potter," said McGonagall, "But that is my final answer. I cannot go around handing my pensive to anyone that wants it, now can I?"

"But last year—"

"Last year I had no idea of the use it would be put to, but now I do. You might not know it Mr. Potter, but I pay attention to what happens in my school, and I did not miss the fact that both Ms. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy were absent from classes on the same day, and that they have not been talking. I do not think it wise for you to interfere anymore."

"But—"

"I'm sorry, Potter. But that's my final word," and with that she swept away down the corridor.

"UGH!!!" said Albus slumping against the wall.

"I can't believe it!" said Clarice, poking her head out from around a tapestry that led to a secret shortcut. She had an extendible ear clutched in her hand.

"I thought for sure she'd help us. Doesn't she _want _them to get back together? Or, would she prefer her Head Boy and Head Girl to not speak to each other for the rest of their lives."

"Maybe she thinks they'll get back together on their own," suggested Clarice.

"They would if Rose would just tell the truth, because Scorpius would believe her, but she won't because she's such a damn good person."

"Oh my God!" said Clarice, slapping herself on the forehead.

"What?"

"I can't believe I never thought of it!"

"Thought of what?"

"I know another way we can get the pensive!"

"How?" asked Albus, looking suspicious.

* * *

"Daddy, can you _please_ do me a really big favor?"

"What sweetie?" asked Neville, looking up from his stack of third year essays.

Clarice, who had just appeared in his office doorway said, "I need your help with something."

"What 'something'?" He already looked suspicious.

"I just," said Clarice evasively, "Need to borrow something."

"Oh, okay. Go right ahead," he gestured for her to continue.

"Well…It's not in here."

"Where is it then?"

"It's in Professor McGonagall's office."

"What? Why are you asking me then?"

"Because, I don't want to seem rude, asking for her stuff," she knew it sounded far fetched, but if she had told him McGonagall had said no he wouldn't give it to her. "So, I thought you could ask for it, and then give it to me."

"Clarice," she could tell he wasn't fooled, "What do you need, and why wouldn't she give it to you?"

_Damn it!_ She thought, _I'd forgotten how smart he was when he felt like it!_

"I need to borrow the pensive."

"Oh no! _Please_ tell me you aren't going to pull another stunt like last year!"

"You heard about that?"

"_Everyone_ heard about that! Stealing Veritaserum, trying to lie to a teacher, releasing a dangerous creature on other students! Do you realize what trouble you could have gotten in?"

"But Rose is my best friend, and she and Scorpius—"

"She and Scorpius can sort out their issues by themselves," he said firmly.

"Daddy…" said Clarice, calming herself down. If begging didn't work there was one other tactic she could try, "I know that it's yours and Mommy's anniversary soon, and, I would _hate_ to have to tell her what you're giving her…" she trailed off for dramatic effect.

"Clarice Alice Longbottom! You will _not_ threaten your father."

"Who's threatening you? All I said was how I would hate for it to just _slip_ during a conversation. She's always trying to weasel it out of me. If my mind is preoccupied with Rose and Scorpius' problem then I might not be paying enough attention. It would be a real shame if a surprise you worked so hard to keep secret was spoiled because I wasn't able to fully focus on the conversation and answered automatically," she was trying her best to sound innocent. She knew her dad knew what she was playing at, but he had worked hard on the gift, and he would do anything to keep it from getting leaked to Hannah.

"Fine," he grumbled, "Wait here. I'll go get it. But if your mother finds out there will be _hell_ to pay."

* * *

"I got it! I got it!" It was close to midnight when Clarice burst into the Ravenclaw Common Room. Albus was there waiting for her, but everyone else had gone to bed.

"You did? _Excellent_!!!"

"So," said Clarice, sitting down next to Albus on a couch by the glass window. "How are we going to do this?"

"I don't know. Wish we still had James," muttered Albus.

"Yeah," said Clarice absentmindedly, she looked deep in thought.

They stared out of the window, which stretched from one wall to the other, looking at the night sky, which was full of stars. They could just make out the tips of the mountains in the starlight, and behind one of them they could see the full moon.

"Why not tomorrow?" asked Albus after several minutes of silence.

"What?" asked Clarice, she had been so preoccupied that she had forgotten what they were talking about.

"Clarice!" said Albus looking exasperated.

"Mm?" she still looked distracted, as if she wasn't really listening.

Albus hit her arm, not enough to hurt her, but enough to shake her out of her trance.

"What were you thinking about anyway?" asked Albus once he was sure he had her full attention.

"Nobody!" said Clarice, a little too quickly and defensively.

"Oh, so it's a 'who'," said Albus, catching the 'nobody'. He knew that Clarice was interested in someone. That had to be it.

"It doesn't matter," said Clarice evasively, "What are we going to do about tomorrow?"

Albus wanted to question her more, but this business with Rose and Scorpius was more important. Once they were back together he could find out who Clarice liked, and turn his own attention to a certain petite, black-haired Hufflepuff named Annabel…_Snap_ _out of it!_ He thought to himself. _You have a job to do!_

"Well," he said, "I reckon we should do it early. No one will be awake early on a Saturday. We'll wake them up, and tell them we have to tell them something really important, separately, obviously. Then, when they get down there we'll start the memory, we'll set up the pensive beforehand. Okay?"

"Okay. See you tomorrow."

"See you."

They walked up to their separate dormitories.

Clarice looked in the bathroom mirror as she brushed her teeth, and thought she looked different. She had always been pretty, though not the first to admit it. She had auburn hair like her mom, not quite as red or as curly as Rose's. Her hair was straight and fell to just below her shoulders. Her eyes were a deep chocolate brown, and though the rest of her was paler than pale her cheeks always had a pleasurable flush. But, looking at herself in the mirror she could tell that there was something different about her. She knew that _he_ was the cause of it. Just thinking about him made her cheeks flush even more, and her eyes sparkled. She had an excited look about her, and she would have to be careful so that it wasn't too obvious when he was mentioned. _Clarice, snap out of it! _She thought. _He's never thought of you that way, and he never will!_ But no matter how many times she told herself that she couldn't stop hoping. Ever since the beginning of fifth year she'd had a little crush on him, but she never let it show, because it would ruin everything.

As Clarice lay in bed her thoughts drifted to a certain boy, and she dreamed of him, happy that at least there they could be together.

**Who are your guesses for Clarice's love interest? I have someone in mind, but if I get a good idea from you I might use it! REVIEW!!!**


	6. Old and New

**A/N: Hey guys!!! So, I LOVE the enthusiastic guesses about Clarice's love interest, but I won't actually reveal who it is for another chapter or two, but I'll be leaving plenty of hints. I just don't see it in Clarice's character to go swooning all over the place about him, even if she really likes him, and believe me, she does. So...enjoy!!!**

"Rose, get up!" said Clarice, shaking her best friend. She was in Rose's room in the Heads' apartments.

Rose rolled over feebly, drawing her head under the covers and placing her pillow over it.

"ROSE!"

"Go away…" she mumbled from beneath the blankets.

"GET UP!"

"What?" asked Rose irritably, drawing her head out from beneath the blankets. She had never been a morning person.

"You've got to come see this!"

"See what?"

"I can't describe it…you'll see!" and with that she dragged Rose down the stairs to the Heads' Common Room.

* * *

"Scorpius! GET UP YOU LAZY PRAT!!!" Albus had found over the years that yelling insults was the only way to get a coherent response out of Scorpius. Like Rose, he hated mornings, only he was ten million times worse.

Scorpius didn't say anything, but threw one of his pillows at Albus without even looking out from under his other pillow. Scorpius had had quite a lot of practice, and the pillow hit Albus square in the face. Without any other options Albus pointed his wand at Scorpius and flicked it, thinking _Levicorpus_.

"ALBUS SEVERUS POTTER!" bellowed Scorpius.

"Get up! You've got to see this!"

"Maybe, if you let me down I can!"

"Fine." _Liverocorpus_ thought Albus, and down went Scorpius.

"What is it?"

"Come on!" and without further ado Albus dragged Scorpius down the stairs to the Heads' Common Room.

* * *

The pensive lay on a table with the memory of their conversation with Lysander waiting inside it. Clarice, who knew the password since she had brought Rose to bed the day of the break up, had set it up the previous evening after Rose and Scorpius were asleep.

The moment Rose and Scorpius saw each other they turned to their respective companions.

"I don't want to see this pig!" said Rose in anger to Clarice.

"You set this up! I said I wasn't going to talk to her and I _meant _it!" said Scorpius, pointing at Albus in dire accusation. It was like a malediction.

"Just look!" said both Albus and Clarice in frustration as three figures burst out of the pensive. A Clarice, an Albus, and a Lysander, all a little shorter than usual, flew out into the room.

The conversation from the day of the break up replayed and Albus and Clarice retreated up the stairs, extendable ears at the ready.

But once the memory was over they didn't hear anything.

Nothing.

Nothing.

Still nothing.

Nothing.

Two solid minutes of nothing and they had to look.

They discovered with satisfaction that there was much more to see than there was to hear. Rose and Scorpius were kissing fiercely. Albus and Clarice retreated up the stairs to Rose's room, because this was something they could see everyday, and it felt like an invasion of privacy.

"I'm sorry!" said Rose, hugging Scorpius, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Why are you apologizing? I was the prat who wouldn't even let you explain."

"But Lysander was right, I wouldn't have explained, I would have kept my promise. But I _don't_ care more about him then you!"

"Of course you don't," said Scorpius softly, stroking her hair as she leaned her head on his chest, "But you keep your promises, that isn't a bad thing. And, to be honest, I probably _would_ have beaten him up."

They both laughed.

"I love you," whispered Rose, and Scorpius barely had time to whisper, "I love you too," before pulled him onto the couch, where they resumed snogging with vigor.

Clarice and Albus came down two hours later to find Rose and Scorpius sitting on the couch side by side, Scorpius' arm around Rose's waist, as they read together, from the same book.

"Oh, you're still here?" asked Rose absentmindedly looking at them as they descended the stairs.

"Unbelievable!" muttered Albus to Clarice, "They're acting like nothing happened! Not even a thank you!" Clarice privately agreed with Albus, only a couple like Rose and Scorpius could be fighting one minute and snogging the next, and never thank the cause of it.

"You guys want breakfast?" asked Clarice.

"What time is it?" asked Scorpius.

"Nine," said Albus carefully.

"What time did you get us up?!?!?" asked Rose in outrage.

"Six-thirty," said Clarice, "We had to make sure the rest of the castle was still asleep, because if it had gone badly people would have been able to hear the screaming from here to the Astronomy Tower."

Rose and Scorpius had the grace to acknowledge this through lack of contradiction.

"Let us just get dressed," said Scorpius, and they retreated to their separate rooms after a long kiss.

* * *

By the next weekend everything was back to normal. It was Saturday morning; a week since Rose and Scorpius made up, and everyone was sitting at the Ravenclaw Table for breakfast, including Annabel, who often sat with them. They were discussing the Hogsmead trip that was taking place that afternoon.

"Do you know what we should get while in Hogsmead?" asked Anna excitedly.

"What?" asked Clarice.

"Dresses for the seventh year formal!" said Anna. It was a tradition at Hogwarts that the seventh years had a formal dance on Halloween, another at Christmas for those who stayed at school, and one at the end of the year.

"We should!" said Rose excitedly.

"Do we _have_ to?" asked Scorpius.

"_You_ don't" said Rose, "But _we _do. Can't you guys tag along to make sure we look good in our dresses?"

Albus and Scorpius both made faces of disgust.

"Fine," said Clarice, "go to some _boy_ store—"

"Save the Quiditch shop for when we're together though!" said Anna hurriedly. She was a Hufflepuff chaser.

"Yeah," said Rose, "I need some new keeping gloves."

"We'll figure something out," said Albus.

* * *

"I _love_ that on you Rose!" said Anna excitedly, "It looks beautiful with your hair!" Rose had just tried on a strapless, deep emerald green ball gown, which fit in a tight corset to her waist before it puffed out in beautiful, luxurious skirts.

"I think I'll get it," said Rose, "I've always looked good in green. You should definitely buy that one Anna, you look stunning." Annabel was wearing a deep blue, floor length dress that had a silvery glow to it. It fit perfectly down her petite frame, and looked great with her hair.

"Do you think I should get this?" asked Clarice, walking out of the dressing room.

"Oh my God!" said Anna and Rose together.

"It's AMAZING!" said Rose.

"PERFECT for you!" said Anna.

Clarice was wearing a deep purple strapless gown that was very similar to Rose's, with gold threading across the bottom and the top of the bodice.

"I think I will get it," said Clarice thoughtfully, "purple has always been a good color on me."

* * *

"I think I want to ask Anna to the formal," said Albus nervously as he, Scorpius, and Lorcan perused the shelves of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Lorcan had stopped hanging out with and talking to Lysander since the incident and Lysander was not going to the formal, or anywhere really besides classes and meals.

"_Really_?" asked Scorpius with awful sarcasm.

"We _never_ would have guessed!" added Lorcan in mock shock.

"Guys I'm serious!" said Albus.

"Fine, then ask her," said Scorpius. "I don't see why this is so hard."

"You would if you didn't already have a date," muttered Albus.

"It's true mate," said Lorcan, clapping Scorpius on the back, "Blokes who've got girlfriends don't have to muster up the courage to ask them to go to the formal."

"I guess," conceded Scorpius, "Who are you planning to ask?"

"Well," said Lorcan, "I think I want to ask Clarice but…"

"That would be great!" said Albus enthusiastically.

"Yeah, it will," agreed Scorpius, "Why don't Rose and I go to the book store, because none of you idiots would be interested in that, and you guys can work out how to ask them while we're gone."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Lorcan, ignoring the insinuations on his intelligence as they left the store.

* * *

"Hey Anna?" asked Albus tentatively. They were sitting in a corner of The Three Broomsticks drinking butterbeers.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to go to the formal with me?"

_I can't believe he asked me! I was hoping he would!_ Thought Annabel in delight as a smile spread across her face.

"Sure," she said, and they both grinned nervously.

* * *

"Hey Clarice?"

"Yeah?" They were sitting outside eating ice cream cones, because they hadn't wanted butterbeer.

"Would you like to go to the formal with me?"

_Oh my God! What do I say!!! I hope he only means as friends! Lorcan is nice and all, but he isn't _him._ But, of course he isn't going to ask me, it's _impossible_, so I guess I can go with Lorcan. I won't have a date otherwise._

"Sure," she said with a small smile, "as friends."

"Um…" _Oh crap! She didn't get what I meant,_ He thought, _or maybe she did and was too nice to say anything mean about it. Better play it cool._ "Yeah, as friends."

"Great," said Clarice. But, even though she was going to the formal with Lorcan she dreamed of a certain raven-haired boy again that night.

**REVIEW!!! REVIEW!!! REVIEW!!! I have freshly backed, vertual cookies...chocolate chocolate chip for all reviewers!**


	7. PreFormal Hubbub

**I don't want to give anything away, so I'll save the real author's note for at the bottom...Enjoy! (god, that sounds like I'm giving you food, not another chapter)**

"Guess what guys?" asked Lily, running up to wear Rose, Clarice, and Anna were standing in the court yard at break. It had been two weeks since the Hogsmead visit, and it was one more until the formal. Lily was practically bouncing with excitement.

"What?" asked Clarice.

"I'm going to the formal!"

"But, you have to be a seventh year," said Annabel, she was very popular with the entire Potter-Weasley clan, considering how little time she had known them for.

"No, Anna, you have to be a seventh year to go stag, but if a seventh year _asks_ you to go with them…" she trailed off in an insinuating tone.

"Who asked you?" asked Rose accusatorily. She didn't like the idea of some seventh year messing with her little, baby, sixth year cousin. She already hated the guy. He could be the Minister's son for all she cared.

"Lysander!" said Lily in ecstasy.

"LYSANDER?" asked all three girls in horror. No one had said his name since _that_ day; it was like a taboo in their group.

"Yeah! This will be so fun!"

Rose was turning pale. Lysander must have been so mad that he chose to get revenge. He would know that family was the most important thing to Rose, so he was going to go with Lily and…she didn't want to even _think_ of the horrible things he could be planning.

"You can't go with him," said Clarice firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because," said Rose slowly, she and Albus had decided not to tell the family about what Lysander had done, and Lorcan had agreed. Luna, her husband, and her kids were like family, they came round for dinner often enough, and Lysander would be either shunned by the women who approved highly of Scorpius, or he would be used by Rose's dad to try and break Scorpius and Rose up. However there was no avoiding the subject now. "Because he's the reason Scorpius and I fought three weeks ago." The whole story came out and by the end Lily looked livid.

"What, you think he's asking me to the formal to get _revenge_?!? How could you think that? We've known him all our lives! The truth is, you can't accept that someone would be interested in me for me! I can't believe you Rose! You can't stop me from going to the formal!" and with that she stormed away.

"Crap…" muttered Annabel, "We need to find Scorpius, Lorcan, and Al.

"Did someone say my name?" asked Albus, coming up from behind Annabel, giving her a quick kiss and looking inquisitorially at her, Rose and Clarice.

"Yeah," said Clarice quickly, "We need to find Scorpius and Lorcan, there's a problem."

"What?" asked Albus.

"We'll explain later just find them!" Rose practically shouted.

"We'll meet in the Heads' Common Room," said Clarice, before dragging Rose away, afraid she would shout more if left in the same corridor as Albus.

* * *

"WHAT?"

"No way…"

"That bastard!"

"HUGO! Do _not_ use that language in front of me!"

They were all in the Heads Common Room and everyone was talking over one another. Rose, Clarice, and Annabel had told Albus, Lorcan, Scorpius, and Hugo the whole story, and they were all in shock.

"Sorry _mom_," said Hugo irritably, "I didn't know that the Head Girl didn't like bad words!"

Rose was about to retort when Albus said, "Shut it! We need to sort this out!"

"We need James," said Scorpius, "We should write to him."

"Immediately," agreed Clarice, everyone's panic had calmed her, and she was ready to take control of the situation, "Get some parchment and a quill."

They all sat down around Rose, who had the best handwriting by far, and worked on the letter.

_Dear James,_

_We hope you're doing well at Gringotts, and that you haven't been fired yet for doing something incredibly funny and dangerous. We have a MAJOR issue, but you CAN'T tell any of the adults about it. By adults we mean, your mum, your dad, my dad (your Uncle Ron), my mum (your Aunt Hermione), Grandma Molly, Grandpa Arthur, Aunt Fleur, Uncle Bill, Uncle Percy, Aunt Audrey, Uncle George, Aunt Angelina, Uncle Charlie, Teddy, or Victoire. Better yet, just don't tell anyone. Period. We found out about a month ago that Lysander Scamander is madly in love with me (I know, weird, right???) and he tried to get me to break up with Scorpius. Of course I wouldn't, but he got really mad, and was a total asshole (it was so bad that even Lorcan isn't talking to him). Anyway, he decided to ask Lily to the formal as revenge and I don't know what to do. I explained the situation to her, but she wouldn't believe me, and now she's really mad. I don't know what to do, and I'm terrified at the thought of what might happen if we don't fix this. Please respond…we need help!_

_Love, Rose_

_P.S. The others want me to add their names too, so: Love, Rose, Scorpius, Hugo, Clarice, Lorcan, Albus, and Annabel (and _yes_ Annabel _is_ Al's knew girlfriend, and _yes_ I did make sure to check her out and discover that she isn't truly insane, she's actually great. I'm sure you'd love her, everyone else does.)_

They sent the letter off with Rowan and waited eagerly for a reply.

_Hey Guys!!!  
Life at the bank's going great. I need to talk to you guys, face to face. I'll floo into the Heads' Common Room when I get home. I'm having dinner with Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur, plus mum, dad, Victoire and Teddy. Speaking of mum and dad, they're worried you haven't written, so write something generic about how great seventh year is…some garbage like that so they don't suspect anything. Talk to you later._

_James_

_P.S. Congrats Al!!! Annabel, I'm _sure_ you're lovely, but I will, of course, be putting you through some basic psycho-analysis, just the usual routine, ask Scorpius, it's no biggie._

Albus hid his head in his hands, but Annabel burst out laughing.

"He sounds HILARIOUS!" she said through giggles.

Albus glared, "Nothing on you though," she finished, giving him a quick kiss before turning to Scorpius, "Is it _really_ psycho-analysis?"

"Something like that," said Scorpius, smiling slightly, "You're lucky you're not meeting him in person…back when Al and I became friends, first year, that was scary. A big second year, interrogating you…totally freaked me out. Once he decided I was an okay guy we were great friends."

"But he didn't have an issue with you dating Rose?" asked Annabel uncertainly.

"An issue?" asked Al, through howls of laughter, "He set the whole thing up."

"Really? How?" asked Annabel interestedly.

"I can't believe you don't know this story!" said Rose.

They were all immersed in the story that Rose was telling, because even though they had all been there except Annabel it _was_ a thrilling tale.

None of them noticed James popping through the fire and onto the hearth until he said, "Are you telling her my story?"

"_Your_ story?" asked Scorpius incredulously, "You mean _our_ story!" he pulled Rose a little closer to him on the couch making room for James to sit down. With those three on the couch Annabel and Albus sat in one armchair while Clarice sat in the other, leaving Lorcan and Hugo on the floor.

"I set the whole thing up!" said James, "Anyway, we're not here to talk about that. What about Lily?"

Everyone fell silent.

"We need to find a way to convince her of the truth," said Clarice.

"Yeah, but we can't use anyone in the family, or Scorpius," said James.

James tried to continue, but was interrupted by Albus who nearly shouted, "What the _hell_ is she thinking???"

"Isn't it obvious?" asked Annabel, all the girls and James nodded in agreement, while Albus, Hugo, Lorcan, and Scorpius looked confused.

"No," said Scorpius, "It's not."

"Well, she's jealous," said Annabel simply.

"Of what?" asked Hugo, looking even more confused than before, his expression was mirrored on Al's, Scorpius', and Lorcan's faces. The girls were looking exasperated and James looked bored by the whole thing, as if this preliminary work wasn't even worth his time.

"Of Rose," said Clarice, "Lily probably really likes Lysander, so when he asked her she was really excited. Then, she finds out that he's really in love with her cousin, so of course she doesn't really want to believe it. Rose has so many amazing things in her life, and has always overshadowed Lily a bit. Now, Rose has a boyfriend who loves her, and Lily wants the same thing, but Lily feels like Rose is denying her what she really wants, and that she made the whole story about Lysander up."

Scorpius, Lorcan, Albus, and Hugo all had their mouths hanging open.

"Now that these emotionally unintelligent dolts have caught up," said James, who unlike the rest of the boys seemed to have totally understood Clarice's speech, "How are we going to convince Lily that Rose isn't lying???"

The group fell silent again until Annabel said, "Rose and I can fight!"

"WHAT?" said everyone, but Rose seemed to understand exactly what she was thinking.

"Yes! That's brilliant! You would go to her, angry and crying and she would believe you because we'd fought!"

James had caught on by now and said, "And then, Annabel can say that you fought because you, Rose, blamed her, Annabel, for the fight with Lily!"

By now Scorpius had figured it out, "Because you, Annabel, and Albus were the ones who had heard what Lysander had said, and had told Rose about it!"

"Then," said Annabel, "she'll know that Rose was telling the truth!"

"Brilliant!" said Lorcan.

"AMAZING!!!" said Hugo, "Why didn't I think of it?"

"Maybe because you're a sixth-year boy who doesn't understand how girls think?" asked Annabel in mock-thought. Everyone laughed, and once they started it was hard to stop, they were rolling all over the place.

Once they'd collected themselves Albus said, "Now we've got that sorted, I'm going to bed," and he left the Heads' Common Room, followed by Hugo, Lorcan, and Clarice. Annabel and Rose stayed behind with James for a while working on the 'fight', and Scorpius watched, mainly because he had no where else to go.

"Well guys," said James, getting ready to go home, it was nearly midnight, "If you perform it _exactly_ as I scripted it it should work. I know my sister. See you!" and with that he stepped into the fireplace and _whooshed _out of sight. Annabel watched him disappear before saying, "I'm going to bed, night!" and she left the Common Room, heading back towards the kitchens.

"Well, I'm going to bed," said Scorpius.

"Me too, goodnight," they kissed softly and headed up to their separate rooms, hoping the plan would work, and dreading what would happen if it didn't.

**A/N: I know everyone was expecting more on the Clarice story line, but I'm trying to develop that gradually, because it will actually involve about five-six characters, not all of which have been introduced yet. I'm planning to give a lot of hints, there are even some in this chapter, because when this explodes it will really explode. REVIEW!!!**


	8. Failure

**A/N: This chapter is really short, because I'm leading up to the formal, which will probably be a bit longer. REVIEW!!!**

The next day was Saturday, exactly one week before the formal, and it was the day decided upon for the 'fight' to take place. They had to do it somewhere where Lily would see, so they waited until the Gryffindor Quiditch Team was done practicing (Lily was the seeker that replaced James and Hugo was a beater). Hugo led Lily around the long way past the Green Houses on the pretext of talking to Uncle Neville, so that no one else would see the 'fight' and get the wrong idea.

So, when Hugo and Lily arrived at the Green Houses the first thing they heard was "This is _your_ fault!!! How do I even know if he really said it! If it wasn't for you she'd still be talking to me!"

"But he _did_!"

"No! He clearly didn't! I'm leaving! Consider you and Al broken up!"

A tear filled Rose ran out of sight, only to double back and hide behind a bush.

"Annabel! What happened?" asked Lily as she and Hugo ran over to where Annabel had sat down on the ground.

"She h-h-hates me!" she cried.

"Why?" asked Lily.

"B-b-because she thinks I m-m-made up what Lysander said, but I d-d-didn't! I swear I didn't!"

"I know you didn't," said Lily softly, "I just didn't want to admit it. Don't worry, I'll talk to Rose…"

"No need," said Rose satisfactorily, appearing out of the bush.

"What's going on here???" asked Lily angrily.

"I _told_ you we were telling the truth!" said Rose, "And don't argue, you just said it yourself."

"If you had to fabricate a fight to get me to believe it chances are it wasn't true!" screamed Lily, "You BITCH Rose Hermione Weasley, how _could_ you do this to me? Do you _want _me to be unhappy? I'm going to the formal with Lysander and there's nothing you can do to stop me!!!" and with that she stormed away, leaving a horrified silence in her wake.

* * *

"What now?" asked Albus desperately. They were all in the Heads' Common Room, including James, who was pacing back and forth.

Everyone was under a huge amount of stress. Lorcan was the most worried, because he knew Lysander, who had always been temperamental, and he knew what he was capable of. He was sitting staring into the dying fire, and wishing it would swallow him up, so he wouldn't have to worry about this. Annabel was watching James pace, almost as if it was hypnosis. Scorpius and Rose were looking at each other, as though through their eye contact they were having a completely separate conversation from everyone else. Hugo was staring at the letter he had been writing his mother, telling her how great sixth year was, as though by staring at the words they would somehow become true. Albus was looking at everybody else, hoping something that someone was doing would inspire him. He noticed Clarice staring straight ahead, right at him.

"What are you looking at?" he asked her.

"What?" she seemed to come out of a reverie. "I was just thinking…"

"I'm going to that formal," James said determinedly, "She'll be mad now, and she'll be willing to do all sorts of things she wouldn't normally be willing to do."

"You'll need a date," said Annabel.

"Why doesn't Rose go?" asked Lorcan.

"I'm not going to the formal with my cousin!" she exclaimed, "I'm going with Scorpius. Period."

"I'll go," said Annabel.

"No, Annabel, you don't have to do that," said Albus quickly.

"I want to help though!" she said determinedly.

"There's no need," said Clarice, "I'll go. Lorcan and I aren't dating or anything so it isn't a big deal."

"Yeah," mumbled Lorcan, "No big deal."

"So it's settled," said James, getting back into the fire, "I will see you in a week," and with that he disappeared.

* * *

The next Tuesday Rose was in the court yard, finishing her Transfiguration homework when Lysander walked up to her.

"Hey beautiful," he said.

"Lysander, if you like your face arranged the way it is I would get lost, and stay away from my cousin," growled Rose.

Lysander smirked, "I'll stay away from Lily," he said, walking away, "But there's no guarantee she'll stay away from me."

"You pig," said Rose.

Lysander stopped, "Jealous much?"

"You wish," the hurt flashed across his face for a minute before a smirk returned.

He walked away without a backward glance, and Rose's stomach turned at the thought of what would happen on Halloween night.


	9. The Formal

**I don't want to give anything away, but be sure to read the author's note at the bottom of the page.**

Rose, Clarice, and Annabel were all in Rose's bathroom, which was huge because she was Head Girl. The counter was covered from one end to the other in makeup, nail polish, hair products, hair dryers and brushes, clips, jewelry, and much more. They were all in their dresses and were examining their appearances with care.

Rose was wearing her emerald green strapless ball gown. Her hair was down, but held back by an emerald head band, so that her curls didn't overshadow her face, and she wore green heels. Her makeup was very natural looking, nothing too extravagant, bringing out her gorgeous natural features. Annabel was wearing her blue and silver gown, with silver flats. Her hair was hanging at her shoulders; she had curled it for the occasion. She wore silver eye shadow, that sparkled, but not in an overwhelming or flashy way. Clarice was wearing her deep purple gown, with the gold threading. Her hair was in a bun, and the gold in the dress brought out her beautiful auburn hair. She wore deep purple heels, and her eyes shadow was gold. All three girls had French manicures and pedicures, and were wearing matching strings of pearls.

When they reached the Heads' Common Room their dates were waiting for them. Lorcan would meet them in the hall, and Hugo, who was too young to go, would wait for them to return with a full report in the Heads' Common Room.

Scorpius was wearing emerald robes to match Roses dress, and they looked perfect together. He took her arm and whispered in her ear, "You look stunning," she blushed with pleasure.

Albus was wearing deep blue robes, and took Annabel's arm with a smile.

James, who refused flat out to wear purple robes, was wearing black dress robes with gold threading. He took Clarice's arm and said, "Ready to do this thing?"

"Definitely," she replied with a smile. She and James had always got on very well. They both glanced back at Albus and Annabel as they left, looking to see if they were following.

They entered the hall at about eight thirty, thirty minutes after the formal had started. Everyone was having a wonderful time, and they had forgotten all about Lily and Lysander who hadn't shown up. About an hour before midnight, and the end of the formal Lily walked into the hall with Lysander on her arm, and she was wearing the most revealing dress in the history of slutty dresses. It was yellow, and made it barely to her mid-thigh. The top was a halter, and it pushed up her breasts to such a level that all of the boys wanted to cover their eyes.

The entire group stared. Lily saw them looking, and pulled Lysander in and kissed him fiercely. James was so angry that he was going to burst. Lysander had his hands all over his little sister, and he did _not_ like it. Albus didn't look any better. They were about to go over and break it up, when to their relief Lily and Lysander broke apart. Lily gave her family and their dates one hard look before following Lysander into the gardens.

The group followed at a sprint out to the gardens where they saw Lysander and Lily kissing on a stone bench.

"Lily," said Rose warningly, "Come one, you're going back to the Common Room this instant."

They broke apart and Lysander said, "Feeling jealous Rosie?"

"Don't call me Rosie," growled Rose, "and no, disgusted, but not jealous."

"Sure, just keep telling yourself that," he said with a smirk.

"Lily Luna Potter!" said James, "Get over here _now_!"

"Make me," she said.

"No, Lily," said Lysander, "You should go. Between you and me, I didn't really like you anyway. I was just trying to make Rosie here jealous, and see, it worked."

Lily looked as if she'd been slapped, and ran back into the hall, tears streaming down her cheeks. Clarice, Annabel, and Albus ran after her. Lorcan punched Lysander in the jaw, and then followed the others. Lysander was left looking at a very angry James, Scorpius, and Rose.

"You know," said Rose, advancing on Lysander, "I felt bad for you, I really did, until I found out you tried to screw up my relationship with Scorpius. Even then, there was lingering pity, but now," she got up close, face to face with him, "I realize you aren't even worth that." She was about to turn away when Lysander kissed her full on the lips. He grabbed her waist, as she beat against his chest, trying desperately to get free. Scorpius grabbed her and pulled her away. She turned into his chest and wept, holding onto him tightly. James was the embodiment of fury. He punched Lysander in the gut before turning back to Rose, who was having hysterics. Scorpius allowed James to pick her up. James left, carrying Rose, but Scorpius stayed behind.

"You'll pay for that," said Scorpius. He pulled his wand out of his robes, and said, "_Impedimenta!_" Lysander went flying and his head hit the corner of the stone bench, making it bleed. Scorpius was beyond furious. He wanted nothing more than to use the Cruciotus Curse on Lysander, but that, unfortunately, was not an option. Scorpius got up close to him and punched him in the jaw, before muttering "_Stupify._" Lysander fell unconscious, and Scorpius walked away.

* * *

When he reached the Heads' Common Room everyone was there. Rose was wrapped up in a blanket, clinging to James on the couch. Lily was sitting on James' other side, sobbing into Albus' shirt. Lorcan, Annabel, and Clarice all occupied different armchairs.

Hugo, who was pacing back and forth in front of the fire, asked Scorpius the moment he entered, "Where the fuck is the bastard?"

"Unconscious and bleeding in the garden," he replied, before asking Rose, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Rose, attempting to stand up, but James pulled her back down, "I'm fine. A little shocked Lysander would do something like that, but fine."

"Good," said Scorpius, "We need to report him."

"I'll go get him," said James, "and bring him up to McGonagall."

"I'll come too!" said Lorcan and Hugo together, and the three left without another word.

"Come on Lils," said Albus, lifting Lily into a standing position, "Let's get you to bed."

They were at the portrait hole when Lily turned around and said to Rose, "I'm sorry. I was so stupid."

"It isn't your fault," said Rose, "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," said Lily, and with that she and Albus disappeared.

"Rosie, are you_ sure_ you're okay?" asked Scorpius, concern written all over his face.

Rose actually laughed, "Yes, I'm _fine_. I'm glad it's over. Lysander will be gone, and everything can go back to normal."

"Yeah," he said, as he sat down on the couch next to her.

She leaned her head on his shoulder and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," he said, and they both fell asleep there, still in their formal cloths.

**A/N: So, thats the end of the Lysander drama, but don't worry, there is more to come. This is by no means the end of the years problems. Next chapter is going to fastforward us about a month and a half, but it will begin the relatioship drama. REVIEW!!! PLEASE!!!**

**XOXO GossipGirlHere  
**


	10. Twas the Angst Before Christmas

**A/N: Hey guys!!! In the next week chapters will be far and few because my computer's hard-drive crashed, and I sent it away to get it fixed, but as a result I have limited computer access. I will try to update at least once more before I get it back, but I can't promise anything. Anways...enjoy the chapter!**

It had been about six weeks since Halloween, and those six weeks had been drama free, much to the joy of all involved. It was a week before Christmas break and everyone, including James, who visited them often after work (even though they were all fully aware that it was against several rules), was sitting in the Heads' Common Room deciding where they would spend Christmas.

"Why don't you come to the Burrow?" asked Rose, looking at Annabel, Lorcan, Scorpius, and Clarice. It was common knowledge that since Arthur and Molly had had the Burrow expanded all of the Weasleys and Potters gathered there every Christmas. There was now enough space for each married couple (including Teddy and Victoire) to have their own room along with Charlie, and the kids could room either two by two or three by three.

"I'd love too," said Scorpius without missing a beat, "As long as your parents won't mind." Everyone knew that by "your parents" he meant "your dad."

"Mom loves you," said Rose, "and Dad can deal. Anyway, I want you to meet Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur. They're amazing, and my uncles and aunts will love you."

Scorpius beamed, kissing her lightly. He loved her, and the fact that she wanted him to know her family, which was a very tight-knit group, really touched him.

"I'd rather be anywhere than my house for Christmas with Lysander, so I'm in." said Lorcan.

"I'd love to come," said Annabel, "I can meet your parents," she continued, looking at James and Albus.

"Yeah," said James, "and everyone can meet Valarie."

"Who's Valarie?" shouted everyone, except Hugo, who shouted, "James got a girlfriend? _Finally!_"

Ignoring Hugo's comment James said, "Valarie is my girlfriend. We've been going out for about a month. She was a Gryffindor in my year, Valarie Thomson, remember? She's muggle born, so we don't know her parents. She's training to become a healer now."

"And you never mentioned this because?" asked Lily.

"It never came up," he said simply.

Everyone looked expectantly at Clarice, who put on a face of mock thought, "Well," she said slowly, "I would _love_ to spend Christmas there, I really would, but I can't _stand_ the thought of the entire holiday with _Rose_." Everyone laughed except Rose, who hit her lightly on the arm. "Ow! Yes, of course I'll come!"

"Yay!" said Rose, hugging her tightly.

"So," said James, getting up and walking over to the fireplace, "I'll tell mum, dad, grandma, grandpa, and, you know, everyone that you lot," he looked between Annabel and Clarice, "are coming for Christmas. See you!" and with that he disappeared into the flames.

Everyone went to bed, or in Scorpius', Clarice's, Annabel's, and Lorcan's cases to write to their parents to tell them about their Christmas plans. However, more than one person was lying awake that night.

_I can't believe this!_ Thought James, looking out the window of his London flat onto the street below, _She is out of bounds! Anyway, I have a girlfriend! I can't do this, it isn't fair to Valarie, or to her. I'm going to be all around her this Christmas, and I don't know if I can control it...I'll have to though. It would never work, for more than one reason._

_This is going to be the best Christmas ever,_ fantasized Lily_ he'll be there for Christmas, and get to know mum and dad, not that he doesn't know them already, and we'll spend more time together. I think he really likes me..._

_Am I _stupid_? _Demanded Clarice of herself, looking at the full moon through her dormitory window, _Or am I just masochistic? He has a _girlfriend_! Do I not know what that means, or do I just like watching him parade around all happy while I watch on the sidelines? All Christmas alone with him, well not _alone_ but close enough. I won't be able to handle it! I can't do this, I just can't! It will only end in tears for me, him, and his girlfriend. I need to get over this and fast._

_Annabel seemed off_ thought Albus worryingly, staring up at the blue canopy of his four-poster. _If I didn't know better I'd say she looked like she had a small crush on...no, it can't be. I'm just really paranoid..._

_What's wrong with me? _Thought Annabel desperately, _I thought I loved Albus! I _do_ love Albus, right? But, when he's around I forget all about Albus...This isn't good, not at all, I can't do this. It will only end badly for everyone. Albus is exactly the right kind of guy for me, and I really like him, but...Albus isn't exactly what I'm looking for, but that still doesn't prove he is. Why ruin my relationship over something that can and will never be?_

_God, I'm an idiot,_ thought Lorcan, _it's obvious she doesn't like me, so why bother? I need to just forget about her, if only it was so easy..._

_

* * *

_The next week passed in a haze of pre-holiday tests. Finally it was time to leave for the Burrow. When they arrived Molly showered them in hugs, and welcomed the new additions to their group. As predicted everyone (with the exception of Ron and George) loved Scorpius, and everyone loved Annabel, Clarice, and Lorcan as well. Rose and Clarice were in their room unpacking when Clarice decided to come clean.

"Rose?" she asked, taking a sweater out of her bag and hanging it in the closet.

"Yeah?" Rose, who had finished unpacking, was lying on the bed perusing a copy of _Witch Weekly_.

"I think I'm in love with your cousin."

**A/N: I'm so bad--cliff hanger! Which cousin do you think it is??? Have a go at guessing who is in love with who (Scorpius and Rose will stay together the whole time, no ands, buts, or ifs. If I get a really good idea I may rework the plot around it, so please tell me what you are thinking. Plus, I want to see if the clues I've been leaving are as obvious to you as they seem to me. I want to know if anyone can guess it completely accurately (virtual chocolate chip cookies if you can!). Also, look forward to meeting Valarie in the next chapter. I have an idea of how I want her personality, but I want to know what you're expecting/hoping for, so give me your thoughts on that. Guys, favorites and alerts only tell me so much (to keep writing), they don't tell me what to write or relieve writers block so REVIEW!!! REVIEW!!! REVIEW!!!**


	11. Secrets

**A/N: So here it is! I don't want to spoil anything for you, but I know that many of you will be surprised at how this unfolds.**

"No way..." said Rose, looking astonished. "But, you've known him for years! He has a girlfriend. Don't you see what this could do to our friendship? How long have you liked him? I thought he was like your brother!"

"He was," said Clarice pleadingly, "But things change. You and Scorpius got together, so I thought you of all people would understand that friends don't always stay just friends. We started spending more time together last year, for obvious reasons, so I got to like him more and more. Then, we had so much fun at the formal, you know, before Lily and Lysander arrived, and--"

"He was with Annabel the whole time though," said Rose.

"What? Who are you talking about?" asked Clarice, looking confused.

"Al. You just said you thought you were in love with him."

"Al?" asked Clarice, before she burst into a fit of giggles.

"Why are you laughing at me?" asked Rose, getting a little mad.

"Because you can be so _stupid_ for the best in the year!" said Clarice through peals of laughter.

"If it isn't Al its...Oh my God!" said Rose, comprehension dawning on her face. "You like James?!?" she nearly screeched.

"Keep it down!" begged Clarice, looking towards the doorway.

"Sorry!" whispered Rose.

"Yes," said Clarice, "I like James. I can't believe you thought I liked Al! Anyway, you can't tell anyone, but I had to tell _someone_. I know he has a girlfriend, and I really don't want to screw that up for him."

"But, I think he could really like you, and--"

"Please, don't get my hopes up. We both know it wouldn't work."

"Clarice, you can't know that until you try. I thought that about me and Scorpius, and look how happy we are now."

"Yeah, but it was obvious to everyone else it would work. You thought I would like Al before James. Al!!! Anyway, we'll meet Valarie tomorrow, and I bet she'll be everything that he wants in a girlfriend."

"Clarice," said Rose sympathetically.

"Don't worry about me," said Clarice, "Lets go down and see everyone."

* * *

The next few days passed peacefully, and without much activity. The only thing of any interest to anyone as Christmas approached was the appearance of Valarie amongst them. She was polite, well spoken, and kind, but she was very serious. Most everyone was at a loss when trying to figure out why James was dating her. To be honest, she was dull. One day Scorpius decided to ask him about it, because he really wanted to understand.

"James? Can I ask you a personal question?" asked Scorpius while they were getting their brooms out. They were going to play Quiditch while everyone else was at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. They hadn't wanted to go, because they wanted to wait until the adults couldn't see what they were buying. Plus, time when no one was in the house was rare and valued.

"Sure, " he said easily.

"Why are you going out with Valarie?"

James' eyes widened and he said, "Is it _that_ obvious?"

"Is _what_ that obvious?" if James had looked confused before it was nothing to how he was looking now.

"The fact that I don't like Valarie even a little bit," he said.

"I get why you don't like her, and I had a feeling you didn't. She's sort of boring and--"

"_Sort of_? You mean maddeningly?"

"Fine, maddeningly. I just wanted to be nicer. Anyway, why go out with her in the first place?"

"Because," said James looking dejected, "I'm in love with someone else. Someone completely off limits, for so a lot reasons."

"Who?"

* * *

"Hey Al?" Lorcan and Al were walking through Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, looking for stuff to bring back to Hogwarts and use in various pranks.

"Yeah?"

"I think I might ask Clarice out."

_Oh crap! _Thought Albus _I thought Lily liked him, she's being sort of obvious, but if he likes Clarice, and Clarice likes him, then I'd be a prat to keep them apart. What do I say?_

"Al?" asked Lorcan. He had been silent for almost a full minute.

"Oh, umm..." _I haven't had enough thinking time!_ "I guess that you should, if you want to. Do you really like her?"

"Yeah, I really do," said Lorcan.

"Then go for it. What's the worst that could happen? _Your heart breaking, or Lily's heart breaking. God, what a dumb question!_ Thought Albus.

Apparently Lorcan didn't agree with Albus' unspoken thought because he said, "Yeah, I think I will."

* * *

"Rose," said Annabel. She was really nervous about confiding in someone, but she had to. She needed advice. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," said Rose, looking up from the book she was looking at. They were at Flourish and Blotts, having separated from the rest of the group, opting out of the trip to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

"I need help. I really like Al, a lot. But, I also like another guy."

Rose's jaw dropped. "And you want to know which to pick?"

"Yeah."

"What about Al? Don't you like him at all?" she was outraged. Some girl was taking advantage of her cousin, and one of her best friends.

"I do! I really like him! I might even love him, but when this other guy comes around it's too easy to forget about Al."

"Who's the other guy?"

"James."

**A/N: Cliffhanger! I'm so mean. Sorry this was a little short, but I wanted to get the entire situation (or almost all of it) laid out on the table. So, who do you think James likes? Obviously, who he likes will have a HUGE impact on the rest of the story. Tell me what you think, I want to hear the guesses, I really do. XOXO**

* * *


	12. Waiting Until After Christmas

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, or any characters you recognize from the books.**

"James?!?!" shouted Rose. _This is unbelievable! Two of my best friends both fancy my cousin!_

"Shh!!! Yes, I think I like James. I would never have looked twice at him, except that I think Al might like Clarice, and I was a little jealous. Then, James was always around and--"

"Clarice?" Rose interrupted her. _Oh this just keeps getting better and better..._ "Why do you think so?"

"Because, the way he looks at her sometimes, I just...I have a feeling." When Rose thought about it she realized that she had seen it in his eyes too, but she couldn't think if it happened before or after Annabel started showing signs of liking James. It actually looked to her like they started at the same time. It reminded her a little of her mum and dad. She'd heard the stories about them going out with other people to make the other one jealous.

"Rose?" asked Annabel, looking worried, "You don't hate me do you?"

"No, but I think we need to sort this out, and soon. Come on, lets go," and she left the bookshop without another word, Annabel trailing behind her.

* * *

"Scorpius?" It had been a few days since the trip into Diagon Ally, and everyone had been a little tense, though everyone was so preoccupied with their own problems that they failed to notice anyone else' issues. The rest of the house had figure out that something was up, and the group was generally ignored by the other inhabitants of the Burrow.

"Yeah?"

Scorpius and Al were sitting in their room, Scorpius reading and Al staring dejectedly out of the window. Since his conversation with Lorcan he realized that he was really mad. _How dare he like Clairice? My Clarice? Whoa, did I just say '_my_ Clarice?'. No. No I didn't. More importantly, how could he ditch my baby sister to go after _my_ Clarice? Okay, I _did_ say it that time..._

"I have a problem." He had to tell _someone_ or he would burst.

"What?"

"I think I might like Clarice,"

"WHAT?" _This can _not _be happening! My best friend and his brother both like the same girl!"_

"That's not all, it gets worse."

_How could it _possibly_ get any worse?_ Thought Scorpius before saying, "How?"

"Lorcan wants to ask her out."_ Shit! It just got worse. My three best friends are all in love with the same girl!_

"How do you know?"

"He asked me if I thought he should ask her out again."'

"And you said?"

"Yes. But I wish I hadn't now! I think Lily really likes him, and now I think I like Clarice, but he likes Clarice, and........HELP!"

"What do you think you should do?"

"If I knew what I thought I should do would I be asking?" he was getting sort of ticked off.

"No need to be mean about it," muttered Scorpius. "What do you _want_ to do?"

"I don't know. What should I do? I want to do the right thing."

"Do nothing. I'm going to advise Lorcan to do nothing as well for a couple days, and we'll see what happens. I need to think."

"Okay, as long as you make sure he doesn't ask her out."

"I will."

* * *

"Hey Lorcan?" asked Scorpius, walking into his room.

"Yeah?" he was alone in their because Hugo was outside playing Quiditch.

"I've noticed that you seem to really like Clarice and--"

"Am I that obvious?" he looked horrified.

"No, I'm just perceptive. Now, I don't think you should ask her out until after Christmas break is over. Wait until we get back to Hogwarts."

"Why?"

"Because..." _Crap! I don't have a good reason._ "Because, you just shouldn't. If she says no then it would ruin your Christmas, and it would be awkward trying to avoid her here, it'll be easier at school."

"Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the help."

"No problem."

* * *

"Rose! I need your help!" He had been running around looking for her, and had finally found her walking in the Orchards, for once, thankfully, alone.

"Wait, me first!" said Rose quickly. She had come to the conclusion that Scorpius would know what to do about Clarice and Annabel, but she had been having trouble finding time alone with him, the Burrow was just so crowded.

"My problem's more important!"

"Want to bet?"

"Yeah I do."

"Just listen, PLEASE!" she put on that pout that she knew he couldn't resist.

"Fine," he grumbled, "But you don't play fair."

"I never said I did," she smirked, before remembering the horrible situation she was in. "Listen. Clarice really likes James, a lot, but so does Annabel! Lily likes Lorcan, but he doesn't seem interested in her, and--"

"No way!"

"What?"

"I was coming to tell you that James really likes Clarice, but Al thinks he does do, and so does Lorcan!"

"What?"

"I know!"

"So, what do we do?"

They both fell silent. This was a real problem.

"Shouldn't we get Clarice and James together?"asked Rose, "It's what they both want."

"But what about Annabel and Albus?"

"Wouldn't they just realize that they're happy the way they are? Annabel said she wouldn't have looked twice at James if she didn't think Albus liked Clarice."

"She might just be trying to justify it. There is a chance it would work out, but if it didn't James and Al would hate each other, Al and Anna would break up, and Lorcan... I don't even know what it would do to him. He's liked her for ages."

"I know, but what about Lily? Think about how sad she'd be if he chose Clarice in stead of her."

"I know. First Lysander, and now Lorcan, she has bad luck."

"I thought," sighed Rose, "That once we got our act together our relationship issues would be over."

"Yeah," said Scorpius, chuckling slightly, "And at the time I thought our relationship was the most complicated thing ever."

They both laughed, realizing how funny it was now.

"I reckon," said Scorpius, "We should wait until after Christmas. Once we're back at Hogwarts we can sort this out,"

"You're right," said Rose, "But there is one thing I want to deal with before Christmas is over."

"What?"

"I want to get James to break up with Valarie. I can't stand the sight of her!"

"Yeah, me neither. But, I don't think it should be too hard."

"Why?"

"Judging by my conversation with him, James can't stand her either."

"Great. Do you want to talk to him or shall I?"

"Why don't you? He is _your_ cousin, after all."

"Ugh, fine," she grumbled, "But I don't want to do it just yet. We hardly ever see each other alone anymore." She sat down, her back against an apple tree.

He joined her, taking her hand in his and said casually, "I love you."

She smiled, kissed him quickly and said with a smirk, "I know," before continuing more seriously, "I love you too."

She leaned her head on his shoulder and for a while they immersed them selves in their own world, forgetting everyone else' troubles.

* * *

What Scorpius and Rose didn't know was that they wouldn't need to break up James and Valarie. They were about to do it themselves.

"Hey Val?" asked James, walking into her bedroom. Valarie wasn't staying at the Burrow, but at her own flat for Christmas.

"James?" she said, looking up from her _A Guide to Elementary Healing_. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk."

"Okay," she looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"Listen, I really have enjoyed these last few weeks with you, they've been exactly what I needed, and--"

"Wait James, don't continue. I need to tell you something. I really like you, and everything, but I think it's best if we break up."

"What?" He was in shock. _She_ was breaking up with _him_?

"I just feel like you're distracting me from my work. Maybe in a few years."

"Yeah, maybe," _But I hope not_. Thought James.

"So, I'll see you around," she said, returning to her book.

"See ya!" he called, leaving without a backward glance. He knew _exactly_ what he wanted to do next. Christmas was in a few days, and he had a big plan to put into operation.

**A/N: So...that's that. I'm sorry I didn't have any scenes with Valarie, but I didn't want anyone to actually like her/get attached to her, because she isn't going to stick around anymore. So, what do you think he's got planned for Christmas??? Just know, that Christmas, which will either be the next chapter or the one after that, will be HUGE, so get excited for that. Let's just say that Rose's and Scorpius' hope that the drama would get settled _after_ Christmas is pretty futile. REVIEW PLEASE!!!!!**


	13. Maybe We Won't Wait

Christmas morning was the usual, hectic event at the Burrow. Peter (Victoire and Teddy's son) was very excited by the wrapping paper, because at age two nothing is more exciting then rapping paper, and made Molly and Lucy cry, because at age eight nothing is more upsetting then having your presents ripped open by a toddler. There was a general sense of uproar, and through it James managed to stick a note in Clarice's stocking. She found it about an hour later, and read it silently.

_If you want your Christmas present meet me tonight at midnight in the orchards._

She didn't know who it was from, because it wasn't handwritten, and she had received presents from everyone, but she was afraid it was from Lorcan. He had shown signs of liking her for a while now, signs she had been purposely ignoring. She figured that she'd better come though, because a small, and probably inaccurate part of her wanted it to be from James.

"What's that?" asked Rose, coming up from behind her.

"Nothing!" she said quickly, looking around to make sure no one else saw anything.

"Oh, really?" Rose said, snatching the paper from Clarice and reading it through.

"Are you going to go?" she asked.

"Yeah," said Clarice, "It sounds fun." _Crap! _thought Rose, _if it's from James then they'll get together, and Albus and Lorcan will hate him. If it's from Albus then Annabel will freak out, and so will James and Lorcan, plus Clarice will have to let him down, nicely, and their friendship will be ruined. And if it's from Lorcan, Lily will die, and James and Albus will kill him, always assuming he doesn't die of a broken heart first when Clarice rejects him!  
_

"Okay, cool," said Rose, while privately adding _I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into._

"Don't tell anyone, please."

"Okay," _I wasn't planning too. I don't want this to explode any sooner then it has to._

"Not even Scorpius,"

"But, I tell him everything!"

"Not this," she said firmly, putting the slip into her pocket, "It's private."

* * *

The evening passed too quickly for Rose, who planned on waiting up in their room until Clarice returned, and too slowly for Clarice and James. Clarice was anxious to meet whoever was out there, and James was anxious to tell Clarice the truth. He just hoped she felt the same way.

At 11:00 James went out to the orchards to get everything set up, glad that everyone else had gone to bed early. At midnight Clarice arrived at the orchards to find them totally dark and empty.

"Hello?" she called softly.

James, who was hiding behind a tree took that as his que. He flicked his wand, and all of the trees lit up in a silvery glow. Live fairies were floating around in jars on the branches adding specks of gold to the silvery glow. The snow had been glazed with water before hand, and he had left a pair of figure skates by it. He stayed hidden, and watched as she turned around in awe, taking in the scene before her. She spotted the skates and hurried to put them on. Skating, he knew, was one of her favorite things. She had always been a good figure skater, and was doing spins across the ice, laughing. He snuck up behind her, his skates already on, and put his hands over her eyes.

"Who is it?" she laughed.

He didn't say anything, but spun her around and kissed her, and she kissed back. For a few minutes they were in heaven. When they broke apart they both broke into grins.

"Hey," he whispered softly.

"You did all of this for me?" she asked, gesturing at the beautiful scene.

"Not for you, for Annabel, do you know where she is?" he joked. In spite of herself Clarice laughed, and James marveled at how beautiful the sound was.

"I've liked you for a really long time," he said more seriously.

"Really?" she asked, "That's funny, because I've liked you since the end of last year."

"Wow," he said, "that's about when I started liking you."

"I can't believe it took us this long to figure it out," said Clarice.

"I feel like Scorpius and Rose," said James, laughing, and Clarice joined in.

"At least we're smart enough to work it out on our own," said Clarice.

James raised an eyebrow and Clarice am mended, "Fine, you worked it out, but at least I didn't hit you when you kissed me!" they both laughed more at the memory, before kissing again, deeply.

They skated for several hours, and then fell asleep lying side by side in the snow.

* * *

The next morning they woke up, and snuck back inside, it was about 7:00, and thankfully everyone else was asleep.

Everyone except Rose.

When Clarice went into her room to get dressed she found Rose sitting on the bed, glaring.

"What took you so long, I thought you'd died!"

"Oh it was beautiful!" sighed Clarice, getting out of her cloths from last night, and putting on a new outfit, "James met me there, and we ice skated, and--"

"James?" asked Rose. This created a lot of issues.

"Of course James," said Clarice, "Who else?" _Oh Clarice_ thought Rose, _you have no _idea_ how many answers there are to that question. _

"So, are you guys dating now?" asked Rose carefully.

"Yes!" said Clarice grinning, and Rose couldn't help but grin along with her. Whatever unpleasantness this would bring she couldn't deny how happy James made her best friend. "I've never been so happy in my whole life! This was the best Christmas ever!"

_It's about to get a lot worse,_ thought Rose with an internal grimace.

* * *

When Rose and Clarice arrived at breakfast Scorpius and James were the only ones awake, other then Mrs. Weasley (elder), who was making the scrambled eggs and sausage along with Kreacher, who Harry and Ginny had brought over.

Scorpius gave Rose a kiss and whispered in her ear, "Al is coming down now. This is going to be hell."

Rose privately agreed, but before she could say anything, she saw Al come bounding down the stairs. When he reached the kitchen doorway he found himself face to face with James and Clarice kissing. All the color drained from his face, and before Clarice and James noticed his appearance he had vanished.

"Oh no," whispered Rose.

When Harry and Ginny walked in they were pleased, though not altogether surprised, to see James holding Clarice's hand at the table.

"Finally figured it out, did we?" asked Ginny, as she spread strawberry jam on her toast.

"Figured out what?" asked Angelina, as she George, Hermione, and Ron came into the room.

Harry pointed to James and Clarice.

"Ha!" said Ron triumphantly, looking at George, "Hand it over!"

George reluctantly reached into his pocket and took out three sickles, "Dammit James, you couldn't have waited to ask her out until June, could you?"

"Nope," said James with a grin.

Clarice grinned back at him, and they leaned into to kiss, but were interrupted by Molly and Lucy both coming in and saying "EWWW!!!"

"Well no one asked you to watch!" said Clarice.

The rest of breakfast passed amicably enough, with the exception of Lorcan bursting into the kitchen asking "Is it true?!?" taking one looking at Clarice and James' joined hands, and running back out, mumbling something about looking for Al.

After breakfast James and Clarice went out with Annabel, Lily, Hugo, Roxanne, Fred, Louis, and Dominique for a snowball fight. The twins, Molly and Lucy, went to go read, and Scorpius and Rose were left to find Albus and Lorcan.

"Who do you want to do?" asked Scorpius.

"Well," said Rose, "I think I'll do Lorcan. Al's your best friend, not mine."

"But, he's your cousin."

"I know, but I don't think he'll want to talk to me about it, because A. James is my cousin too, and B. I'm Clarice's best friend."

"Okay," he gave her a quick kiss before saying, "See you."

* * *

"Hey Al?"

"What? Shouldn't you be down there?" he gestured moodily towards the window, where everyone was having their snowball fight. He was sitting on his bed, and had been staring out the window for the past hour.

"Shouldn't you?" Scorpius retorted.

Albus didn't respond, he just gave a noncommittal grunt.

"Al, mate," said Scorpius, sitting down on the bed next to him, "What's wrong?" he regretted the words the moment they'd left his mouth. _I'm such an idiot! _he lectured himself, _I already know what's wrong, and he knows it. What a dumb question. Do I _think_ before I speak? Apparently not!_

"You know what's wrong!" Al nearly shouted. Scorpius took the opportunity to shut the door with this wand and place a silencing charm on it. "I discover that I like one of my best friends, and then, out of the blue my brother asks her out. My own brother! How can you ask 'what's wrong'??? Are you that _stupid_ Scorpius? Don't you realize that my entire world is collapsing around me???"

"Al, mate," said Scorpius, "I'll admit that that was a dumb question, but what was I supposed to say. They don't really make a 'Sorry, your crush and your brother are now going out' Hallmark card!"

"Just go..." said Albus, turning his attention back to the window.

"I'll go after I've said my piece. Now, you have three choices. You can sulk around forever, and ruin the best chance of friendship you have with her, keeping going out with Annabel, and make yourself miserable, while ignoring a confused James. You can make a scene, and loose her friendship, and most likely your brother forever. Or, you can break up with Annabel, act like nothing's wrong, and try to move on. You're a real prat for keeping things going with Annabel when you're in love with another girl."

"You're right, I'll break up with Annabel," said Albus, and Scorpius felt very pleased with himself and his motivational skills until he heard the rest of Albus' sentence, "But nothing will ever make me forgive James."

* * *

"Hey Annabel!" said Rose. She had been looking for Lorcan, and had run right into Annabel, who had been on her way into the house.

"Hey Rose!"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure."

"I'm a bit worried. You don't seem upset about James and Clarice, and if you--"

"Rose," said Annabel, putting a hand on Rose's shoulder, "I appreciate your worry, but I'm fine. I realized sometime last week that I _love_ Al. I don't know _what_ was wrong with me! I couldn't be more happy for James and Clarice, and I think they look great together. I'm really enjoying what Al and I have, and James, well, he's just not what I'm looking for. I discovered that me liking James was really a gut reaction to jealousy I felt over Clarice and Al, when I should have known that that wasn't an issue. I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out!"

And with that Annabel skipped away.

Rose, feeling slightly lightheaded at the day's rapid developments, continued to search for Lorcan.

"Hey, Grandma?" she asked, coming upon Molly in the kitchen.

"Yes dear?"

"Have you seen Lorcan?"

"Oh, he didn't say goodbye?" Molly looked startled, "He left this morning. He thanked us for having him, but said that now that Christmas was over he needed to get back to his family, and see them before returning to Hogwarts. He flooed away at around ten."

"Oh," said Rose, recovering quickly and saying, "I forgot. He did say goodbye. I guess I'll talk to him at school," and with that she left, in search of Scorpius, to find out how his conversation with Al went.

* * *

"Hey Annabel, can I talk to you?"

Al had found Annabel later that day. They were in the hallway, he had just left the living room, where the rest of the family, plus Clarice, was situated, and had run into her as she was making her way to the living room.

"Sure," she said, stopping in front of him.

"Listen," he pulled her into the kitchen, which was just off the living room, and sat her down in a chair. "Annabel, I've really enjoyed the last few months with you, and--"

"I have too," she interrupted, "and there's something I've been meaning to tell you. I lo--"

"Wait!" he nearly shouted, "Before you say something you'll regret you should know, I'm ending it. It was fun while it lasted, but I'm not interested anymore, and that isn't fair to you. You're a great girl, and you deserve someone amazing in your life, but I'm not it.

Annabel stood up, looking livid. "It's Clarice isn't it?" she bellowed, storming into the hallway. Albus followed her at top speed. Neither registered the family and Clarice trooping in from the living room, or Scorpius and Rose whispering quietly to each other. "She's dating your _brother_ Al! Your _brother_!!! I thought everything was fine between us, and then you dump me out of the blue! You've got a lot of nerve Albus Severus Potter, a lot of nerve, to think that after all this time you can just dump me, while I'm staying at your house! It's all because of her! And you!!!" she pointed at Clarice in fury, and no one could blame Clarice for retreating several steps back, into James' waiting arms, "YOU! How _could_ you do this? What's your secret, huh? Slip love potions into their drinks do you?"

"What?" asked Clarice, looking stunned. Whatever she'd been expecting it hadn't been this.

"Well they're all mad for you, aren't they? James, Albus, Lorcan! Why do you think he bolted so quickly when he found out about you and James? I bet Hugo even has a crush on you!"

Everyone's heads turned to Hugo who put his hands up and said "Don't look at me! No offense Clarice, but I wouldn't date you in a million years. Talk about weird!"

"Anna..." said Albus softly.

Annabel looked thunderous. Though she normally stood about a head shorter then Albus she towered over him as she said, "You have no right to call me that Albus Severus Potter! I'm leaving! I hope you and James have a fight to the death over Clarice, and I hope _none_ of you survive!" and with that she stormed out the front door. They heard the crack that meant she had apparrated.

The silence in the room was louder then any silence in the history of silences. Everyone looked between Clarice, James, and Albus. The tension was so think you could have cut it with a knife.

**A/N: So what will everyone's reactions be? I know this was a bit longer, but I couldn't bring myself to divide it up. So much happened in this chapter, and I want to know what you thought, so REVIEW!!!**

* * *


	14. Back to School

Everyone was looking either at James and Clarice, who were standing side by side, still holding hands, or at Albus, who was across the hall from them.

"Al," said James quietly, "You......you don't fancy Clarice......do you?"

_Oh _why_ did he ask _that_? _Thought Rose, and one look at Scorpius told her that he was thinking the same thing.

The entire room waited on baited breath for Albus' response.

"Why do you care?" he said angrily, "She chose you, so that's all that matters, isn't it?" and with that he stormed up the stairs. They could hear the door four floors above slamming. James looked stunned, Clarice looked close to tears, and Scorpius and Rose looked regretful.

"Well...." said George, "I fancy a game of exploding snap, don't you? Come on then!" and, to the relief of the other adults and to the dismay of the other children, who wanted to know what happened, George and Angelina led the way back into the living room. Molly and Arthur brought up the rear, shepherding a very angry Fred and Roxanne, who were both clutching extendable ears.

The only people lift in the hall were Rose, Scorpius, Harry, Ginny, James, Lily, Ron, and Clarice.

"What's wrong Princess?" Harry asked Lily, who was crying silently.

"First Lysander, now Lorcan! Am I really that disgusting?" cried Lily, before running out towards the door.

"Lysander?" asked Ginny.

"We'll explain later," said Rose.

"I'll go get her," said Ron, looking sympathetically at Harry, "And I thought I had it bad when Rose started dating. But, I got the easy end apparently, one boyfriend, whose a decent bloke, and only one daughter to like him," he said, before leaving to find Lily.

"Will someone _please_ explain this to me???" begged Harry, looking between Clarice, James, Rose, and Scorpius.

"Well," said Rose, "It all really started at the beginning of the year," the entire story was told, from the entire Lysander debacle through the events of that day. Rose and Scorpius did most of the telling, but James and Clarice contributed occasionally.

"I'm so sorry!" said Clarice once the story was over, she was crying now. "This is all my fault! I ruined everything! I always do!"

"No you didn't," said James quietly, brushing away some of her tears with his thumb, "You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to yell at James or hug him. Clearly James cared a lot about this girl, but at the same time family was supposed to come first. But, then again, Al wasn't being all that mature at the moment either.

"No one blames you dear," said Ginny, "This isn't anyone's fault."

"Maybe," said Clarice, looking tentatively at James, "Maybe, this is wrong. Us, I mean. I really want to be with you, but I can't make you fight with Al, it just isn't right. I'm not really worth it."

"No!" said James fiercely. He almost looked angry as he continued, "Don't you _dare_ say you're not worth it!"

"For what it's worth," said Harry, "I'm okay with it. I'm just worried about Albus."

"You should go talk to him," said Ginny, looking at James.

"Are you mental?" asked James, "He'll kill me!"

"No he won't," said Ginny, "Anyway, your dad will go with you."

"He will?" asked James.

"I will?" asked Harry at the same time as James.

"Yes," said Ginny, "You three men need to sort this out."

Ginny, Rose, Scorpius, and Clarice watched with trepidation as Harry and James climbed the stairs.

They waited with baited breath, but heard nothing but silence.

"HE'S GONE!" shouted Harry a moment late from four floors above, "He left a note. He went back to Hogwarts! All his stuff's gone, and everything!"

James and Harry returned a moment later.

"Well," sighed Ginny, "I guess we'll talk about it later."

"I'd better go make sure Lily's okay," said Harry, before leaving the house in search of his daughter.

"And I'm going to Luna's," said Ginny, walking into the kitchen and grabbing the floo powder off the mantle.

"Well," said Rose, looking at Scorpius, "You want to go for a walk?"

"Sure," he said, and the two left hand in hand.

James and Clarice went up to James room, because the living room was occupied with the rest of the family, something that neither of them felt like facing just yet. When Fred, James' roommate, arrived a few hours later he found Clarice and James asleep on the bed, hand in hand. He slept in Hugo's room that night.

* * *

The rest of the break passed calmly enough. No body ever mentioned Albus, and when they were fortunate enough to forget about him everyone was enjoying themselves. When the time came for everyone to go back to Hogwarts James was depressed beyond belief. He went to Platform 9 3/4 to see them off, and couldn't be separated from Clarice the whole time.

"You won't," he looked a little nervous as he spoke, clutching Clarice's hand, "You won't forget about me will you. Go out with Al, just cause he's closer?"

Clarice rolled her eyes and said, "No I will _not_ go out with Al. You're so cute when you're insecure. I don't reckon you can visit anymore, cause Al will tell on us, but I want you to write every day."

"Twice a day," he said with a grin. He kissed her softly, but they were interrupted by Ginny who said, "James, she'll still be the same when she comes for Easter. She'll miss the train!"

"Bye," he said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and hurried onto the train with the others.

"Bye!" she called as the train sped away.

"So, she's really worth it?" asked Harry, looking at James, who glared.

"Would I risk it all for someone who isn't worth it?" he said, before dissapparating.

"I guess not," said Harry, shaking his head slightly.

"You know," said Ginny, walking over to her husband, "I think she's good for him."

"I'm thinking we should just make her off limits for both of them, imagine what would happen if they got _married_! Albus would kill him!"

"Oh, I don't think they're anywhere _near_ getting married," said Ginny, with a smile, "But, I wouldn't mind them getting married. She's a very nice girl, and she's good for him. Anyway, Al will get over it. I'm sure he will. How attached can you get to a girl you've never gone out with?"

"Ron and Hermione" was all Harry said.

"Yes, but they knew each other for years. I would compare them to Rose and Scorpius. Al only got to know Clarice through Rose last year. That's not very long, it's only as long as James has known her."

"Yeah..." sighed Harry. He didn't know what to do anymore. There was a loud _crack _as they dissapparated and appeared again in their own kitchen.

"On a different note," said Ginny, bustling around getting some tea ready, "I'm worried about Lily. I was at Luna's that day," he didn't need to ask which day, "and she gave me her take on the Lysander Lorcan issue."

"What exactly are we going to do about that?"

"Well, she says that Lysander feels really bad about it now, both how he treated Rose and how he treated Lily, but Lorcan is still pretty depressed. He really likes Clarice and--"

"What about this girl is so appealing? I'm sorry but I don't really see the draw!"

"I should hope not," said Ginny briskly, setting tea in front of Harry and sitting down next to him.

"No really, I'm trying to understand this!"

"We don't need to understand this. We just need to be supportive of both our sons and their decisions."

"Ugh! I just wish I knew how!"

* * *

"Hey, can I sit with you?"

Annabel had just walked up to the compartment where Scorpius, Rose, and Clarice were sitting.

"Sure," said Rose, before Scorpius or Clarice could reply.

"Clarice," said Annabel as she sat down. She looked really nervous as she continued, "I'm so very sorry! I'm ashamed of what I said to you that day," no one needed to ask which day, "I wish I hadn't said it. I'm really not mad at you, just Albus. I really miss spending time with you guys."

"It's okay," said Clarice.

"Friends?" confirmed Annabel.

"Friends," said Clarice with a grin.

The rest of the ride passed without incident, and they were soon arriving at Hogwarts. All the business with Al had been all but forgotten, until they arrived at the Ravenclaw table, and saw him sitting with Lorcan.

There was an awkward moment where he looked at them, and all of them were reminded of the terrible events of Christmas break, including Annabel, who quickly retreated to the Hufflepuff table.

Rose sighed.

"What?" asked Scorpius.

"I have a feeling that this isn't over. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's about to get a lot worse."

Not wanting to discourage her more Scorpius remained silent, but he couldn't help privately agreeing.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast was possibly the most awkward thing any of them had experienced.

When Rose, Scorpius, and Clarice sat down they were only separated from Albus by a few second years. Albus was sitting with Lorcan again, and it didn't take long for the group to realize that neither was talking to them. Things only got worse when James' black owl, Lynx, arrived at the table. Everyone recognized it as it landed in front of Clarice. She tore open the letter with a smile, which only got wider as she read down the page.

_Hey Clarice!_

_How's Hogwarts? I bet it's really boring without me there! Have Fred and Roxanne done any good pranks yet? Because, you know, even though they're only fifth years they're pretty talented. I hope you don't kill yourself studying for N.E.W.T.s, because I'd really miss you. You and I both know that as a smart Ravenclaw you'll do fine. You won't get O's in everything like Rose and Scorpius, but unlike them you won't lock yourself in a cupboard with your textbooks for two months. Tell Rose and Scorpius I say 'Hi!' and make sure they don't do anything stupid, now that I can't pop in and fix it. Make sure to tell Lily and Hugo to bring Gryffindor Quiditch victory! (I can say that because you aren't on the Quiditch team). Write back soon!_

_James_

Clarice was about to put the letter away when Albus, who had been standing behind her and reading over her shoulder, snatched the letter away.

"Albus give it back!" said Clarice angrily.

"You'll get your letter back," he sneered, "I just want to know what your _boyfriend_ has to say." He read down the page, his frown deepening. "Personally, I don't see the appeal. He's just a self centered asshole, who doesn't even mention his own brother!" and with that he tore the letter up and sprinkled the remnants all over the table, "There, have your letter!" Once he was free of the letter remnants he stormed away out of the hall, walking right past a tearful Annabel who had whispered "Al..."

"You aren't going to let him get away with that are you?" demanded Rose, looking at Scorpius. "Go tell him off!"

"Me?"

"Yes _you_! Now go!"

"Ugh, fine! I'll see you in Arithmancy, if I _live_ long enough to get there," he said, getting up and walking towards the doors.

"Wait!" Rose had gotten up and run after him. She gave him a quick kiss and said, "Just in case you _don't _live long enough to make it to Arithmancy. I love you."

"Love you too," he said, before breaking free of her arms and leaving the hall in search of his best friend.

"He'll be okay," said Clarice, walking up from behind Rose, clutching James' letter, which she had just repaired.

"Yeah, easy for you to say. Your boyfriend's in Diagon Ally. Al can't reach him from here."

"True," she said with a smirk. "I've got break now, so I'll see you in Transfiguration. I'm going to answer this," she held up the letter. "Bye!"

* * *

"Al!" called Scorpius, as he ran up the stairs after his best friend.

"What do you want Scorpius?" asked Albus, coming to a stop in front of a tapestry that housed a secret passageway up to Ravenclaw Tower.

"I want to talk."

"Okay. Talk."

"Al, you...you've gotta snap out of it!"

"Snap out of what?" asked Al angrily, walking through the tapestry and up the stairs it concealed. Scorpius followed at top speed.

"Stop being such a prat! It's not like you!"

"Then why hang around me? If I'm such a prat just go! Why do you care? It's not like anyone else does!"

"Because you're my best mate!"

"And yet you sided against me! Some way to treat your best mate!"

* * *

_Dear James,_

_Everything here's good. I haven't even started studying for N.E.W.T.s, which, when you're friends with Rose and Scorpius, makes you feel like a slacker. I'm friends with Annabel again, she wanted me to let you know that she's apologizing, because she feels awful about what she said to me and to you that day. Well, mostly to me, but she wanted me to tell you sorry too. Rose and Scorpius are good, and I was---_

"You're a bloody git!"

Clarice looked up from her parchment, which she had just splattered with ink when startled by the slamming door, to see Albus and Scorpius burst into the Ravenclaw Common Room.

"I'm the git?" shouted Scorpius.

"Yeah, you are! This isn't any of your business."

"Al, you're my friend, and so are James and Clarice!"

Neither of them had noticed that Clarice was in the room.

"I'm not your friend. If I was your friend you wouldn't side with them!

Suddenly Al pulled out his wand, and so did Scorpius. It was as if they were seeing each other clearly for the first time.

_"Stupify!"_

_"Impedimenta!"_

**A/N: Hey guys! So a lot happened in this chapter. Sorry I had to leave you with a cliff hanger. Who will win the duel? REVIEW!!!!!!**

* * *


	15. Fight

"Guys stop it!" cried Clarice, abandoning her letter. None of them noticed when Lynx swooped up and took it, unfinished off the table and left through the open window.

Neither boy payed any attention and curses were flying all over the room.

"_Protego!_" she called, and a shield erupted between the two boys, but they payed it about as much attention as they had paid her. They continued to fire curses at each other only now some were bouncing off the shield into every imaginable direction.

One of Albus' stunning spells that had rebounded off of the shield hit Clarice and she crumpled, but still neither boy noticed. Eventually the shield vanished, and they were able to aim more carefully.

* * *

"Hey Lynx!" said James. It was his break, and Lynx had just arrived with Clarice's half-finished, ink-spattered letter.

_What if something's happened to her?_ he thought desperately. It was the only explanation he could come up with for Clarice sending him a half finished letter.

He grabbed the nearest piece of parchment, wrote _Are you okay? What's going on?_, and gave it to Lynx saying "Take this to Clarice," he watched with trepidation as Lynx flew out the window.

* * *

Lynx landed by Clarice's unconscious form and dropped the parchment, but Clarice didn't move.

"Guys!" cried Rose. She had been worried when Scorpius wasn't in Arithmancy, so she had asked to go to the bathroom in order to search for him and Albus. On the way she ran into Annabel, who had a free period. They had just run in and found Albus and Scorpius dueling.

"STOP!" cried Annabel, before shouting, _"Protego!"_ but once again the boys paid no attention to the shield.

Neither girl saw Clarice, so they didn't do anything when one of Scorpius' jinxes hit the life sized portrait above the mantle. The portrait fell onto the marble mantle, which cracked. Pieces of the mantle fell onto them all, including Clarice, though the rest of them managed to move out of harms way.

"SCORPIUS!" cried Rose. Only the sound of her voice could have broken through to him. He saw her and immediately guilt washed over him. She had asked him to talk to Albus, not fight him. He lowered his wand, but Albus did not.

"Scorpius, you're the biggest git I've ever had the misfortune to meet!" he shouted, everyone watched him, hoping he would just leave. Rose wanted desperately to go comfort him. He was clearly in a lot of pain.

She walked forward slowly, saying "Albus, I--"

"You!" he pointed his wand at her, "I can't believe it! We're supposed to be best friends, and you side with James on this! Doesn't anyone care about me anymore?"

"Rose," said Scorpius, he was afraid Albus would hurt her. He grabbed her hand and started to pull her back when James burst out of the fire.

"What's going on?" he looked in confusion from the group all looking at Albus, who had his wand pointing at Scorpius and Rose, to the busted mantle, and then to the floor where he saw..."CLARICE!" he ran forward and pulled her out from under the mantle.

"Oh my God!" cried Rose as she and Annabel rushed forward to help James pull her out. Scorpius and Albus followed at a distance.

"What happened to her?" asked James. He was trying to figure out which bones were broken.

"Ask them," said Annabel, pointing at Scorpius and Albus.

"I really don't know," said Scorpius, "She was in here when we arrived, and then wands came out, and...I don't remember what happened to her."

Everyone looked at Albus, who said, "I...I don't know," he looked close to tears, "Tell her I'm sorry," and with that he ran from the room.

"We have to get her to the hospital wing," said Scorpius.

"_Enovate,_" said James, and Clarice's eyes fluttered open.

"James?" she looked around confusedly, "What---What happened?" she tried to sit up, but more than one hand pushed her back down as she groaned.

"Where does it hurt?" Rose asked.

"Everywhere," she groaned, closing her eyes.

"We have to move her," said Annabel.

James picked her up carefully, and they walked down to the hospital wing, taking every secret passage possible. Only Annabel didn't go with them. She stayed behind to tidy up the Ravenclaw Common Room, and then went to Professor Boot to explain why they wouldn't be in Transfiguration, which they all had together next period. By the time they reached the hospital wing Clarice had fallen asleep.

"What happened to her?" asked Madam Pomfrey as James set her down on the bed nearest the door. She was so flustered it took her a moment to realize who was there. "Mr. Potter, what are _you_ doing here? Shouldn't you be at the bank?"

"Oh crap!" muttered James. Luckily, Lynx had followed them, so he scribbled a note to Bill, who now ran the curse-breakers division where he worked, and gave it to Lynx who flew off.

"What happened?" repeated Madam Pomfrey, who was now examining Clarice.

"Well," said Rose, trying to spin the important facts that would help Madam Pomfrey cure Clarice into a story that wouldn't get Scorpius and Al expelled. "We were all in Ravenclaw Common Room, and Scorpius, Al, and I were practicing our stunning spells for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Clarice was writing a letter to James by the fire. But then, Scorpius' stunning spell missed and hit the mantle, and it fell on her. We cleaned it up, but thought we should take her to you."

It was a pretty lame story and Rose knew it. Apparently Madam Pomfrey did too, because she said, "Hmmm...well, Professor McGonagall will be having a word with you about what _really_ happened later. In any case her skull is cracked, her right wrist is broken, as is her right hip, and her right calf. Her entire right side is pretty ripped up, but the left side seems fine, apart from a nasty cut on her left forearm. Also, some of her ribs are broken, and they're putting some unhealthy pressure on her right lung, but I'll be able to patch her up alright. I'll keep her in over night. You wait here for a moment." she raised her want, and out burst two silvery cranes, one of which flew out of the hospital wing, and in the direction of McGonagall's office, while the other flew out the window towards the green houses.

Annabel arrived a minute later and she, Rose, and Scorpius all settled into chairs. James, however, didn't sit down. He stood right by Clarice's bed and just looked at her. Madam Pomfrey walked around to the other side of the bed and started waving her wand over Clarice, who stirred feebly. Once the bones were mended Madam Pomfrey wrapped a turban around her head to help the skull heal faster, and then disappeared back into her office.

A few minutes later Clarice awoke, and sat up gingerly. She and James were having a whispered conversation when McGonagall, Neville, and Albus arrived.

"Clarice!" said Neville, rushing over to have a look at his daughter.

"Dad, I'm fine," she said, rolling her eyes.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"I...I don't really know," he looked incredulously at her, so she rushed to explain, "I mean, I was unconscious before any of this happened," she pointed to her bandage turban.

"James?" asked Neville. He knew that James and Clarice were going out, but if James was responsible for this in any way, then the relationship was over.

"Don't look at me," said James quickly, "I didn't arrive until after it was all over."

"Well, then, who _does_ know what happened?" asked McGonagall, looking between Albus, Annabel, Scorpius, and Rose.

"Well," said Scorpius, "Al and I had a fight, and--"

"I pulled out my wand," said Albus, "and I tried to jinx him, so he pulled out his wand, and we dueled. Clarice tried to stop us, she put up a shield charm, and then one of my stunning spells bounced off the shield and hit her. Then one of our spells, I don't know whose, hit the mantle, and it fell on Clarice. Scorpius stopped fighting, but I wouldn't, and then James arrived, and we discovered Clarice was hurt."

"Well," said McGonagall, "You, Mr. Potter, will receive detention every Friday for the next month, my office. Mr. Malfoy, you will join him. Be warned, Mr. Malfoy, If you had started that fight, or are in another one again, you will loose your badge."

And with that she swept from the hall.

Neville looked between Al, James, and Clarice, and they knew that he knew what was really up. He'd heard about it from Ginny, but he hadn't known it was this bad. "Sweetie," he spoke to Clarice, "_Please_ rest. Your mother will kill me if she finds out about this," and once he received a nod from Clarice he left.

"Al, thanks, I thought I would lose my badge, you're--" but Albus held up a hand, stopping Scorpius from continuing.

"I don't forgive any of you, I just didn't want to be responsible for you loosing the badge. Now I don't owe you anything. Nothing's changed," and with that he walked out the doors, leaving a ringing silence behind him.

**A/N: So...how was it??? Review and tell me! The next few chapters are probably going to be a lot shorter, because I'm trying to kill some time between now and the end of the year, where Quiditch, N.E.W.T.'s and everything is going to explode. REVIEW!!!**


	16. Friends?

During the next few weeks everything went back to normal, or as normal as they could be without Albus. By about mid February Clarice, Scorpius, and Rose were studying hard for N.E.W.T.s. One night in the common room, about two weeks before the Easter holiday Rose, Scorpius, and Clarice were all in the Heads' Common Room.

"Where's Annabel?" asked Clarice, looking up from a letter she had just received from James.

"yeah...moonstones....," muttered Rose, without looking up from her potions books.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" continued Clarice, who was holding up three fingers.

"Mm?" mumbled Scorpius, still trying to complete his rune translation.

"Oh my God! Is that a hippogriff?" screamed Clarice quite believably.

"Mm...yeah...I guess," mumbled Rose. Scorpius just grunted.

Growing impatient at her two friends, Clarice grabbed a copy of The Daily Prophet and threw it at the couch where Scorpius and Rose were sitting together.

"Ugh! Clarice!" it had hit a bottle of ink, which had spilled over the entire table. Scorpius grabbed the bottle as Rose whispered, "_Turgio_", clearing the table, books, and parchment of ink.

"Ugh," said Scorpius, putting the stuff in his bag. "I'll finish tomorrow. I can't concentrate."

"Me neither," said Rose, putting away her things as well, "I wonder _why_ that would be?" she finished with awful sarcasm, glaring at Clarice, who shrugged.

"Anyway," said Clarice, glad she had their attention, "Where is Annabel?"

The other two thought for a moment, "I don't know," said Rose finally, "The last time I saw her was at breakfast yesterday, and she was sitting with....no.....I must be wrong..." she trailed off looking thoughtful.

"What?" asked Scorpius.

"I think she might have been sitting with Albus."

"What?" asked Clarice.

"Yeah. I'll ask her tomorrow in Charms.

* * *

"Hey Annabel?" whispered Rose.

"Yeah?" said Annabel. Rose and Clarice had made sure to sit by Annabel that day in Charms while they tried to charm their whistles, so that they could question her.

"Are you and Albus speaking again?" asked Clarice, without preamble.

Annabel looked slightly guilty as she replied, "Um...yeah, we are. We're not dating or anything though," she explained hurriedly, she didn't want them getting the wrong idea, "We're just friends."

"Do you _want_ to be more then 'just friends'?" asked Rose.

"Well....I don't know," said Annabel. She looked anguished. "I'm pretty sure he's gotten over you, Clarice, but he's just to stubborn to admit it. There are times when I think I see it in his eyes that he likes me again, but I'm not sure."

"Don't worry," said Clarice, "It'll all be okay....I promise."

"Hey!" said Rose, "Why don't you come to the Burrow for Easter? Mum wrote to invite us, and even Al will be there."

"Sure," said Annabel, "As long as your parents are okay with it."

"They are," Rose promised, before turning her attention back to her whistle.

* * *

_Dear James,_

_I hope everything with you is good, and that you haven't blown up the bank yet. I'd love to spend Easter at the Burrow! I'm just a little bit worried because Al is going to be there. He still isn't talking to me or Rose or Scorpius, but he started talking to Annabel again, or rather, Annabel started talking to him. She says that he doesn't hate us anymore, but that he's to stubborn to admit it. I hope she's right. I'll see you soon (exactly ten days). Missing you!_

_Clarice_

"Hey, can I borrow Rowan? I need to send an owl to James," called Clarice to the general area of where Rose and Scorpius were sitting, hidden away by a pile of books. A mumble of assent came from somewhere within the pile, so with a "Bye Guys!" Clarice headed off to the owlry.

"You know what," said Rose a few minutes later, as she put her stuff away.

"No, what?" asked Scorpius, placing his things in his bag.

"I'm going to talk to Albus tomorrow," it wasn't a question, it was a statement, and Scorpius had a feeling it would be hard to change her mind.

"Remember what happened _last_ time we tried to _talk_ to Al?"

"Yes, but that was different. He needed some time to cool down. But two months of silence is long enough in my opinion."

"Just.....be careful, okay?" said Scorpius. He looked really worried.

Rose leaned in and gave him a soft kiss, saying, "You're so cute when you're worried."

"Rose," said Scorpius, "I don't want you to have to jinx him, but if his wand comes out--"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, every horrible curse I know....I promise it'll be okay."

"Tomorrow," said Scorpius, "and I want you to do it somewhere where I'm close, okay?"

"Fine," Rose rolled her eyes at Scorpius' dramatics, but secretly thought it was really sweet that he was so worried, "I talk to him in the Great Hall at breakfast tomorrow morning, that way you can be there too, just not too close, okay?"

"Sure," he said, glad that she had accepted the plan.

* * *

The next day Scorpius, Rose, and Clarice made their way down to breakfast as usual. Clarice left a bit early, dragging Annabel with her. When Albus got up to leave Rose got up too. Scorpius didn't, he just waited at the table, and watched carefully. Normally he wold trust Al with his life, but after what happened that day he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Hey Al," said Rose, making Albus stop in his tracks, "Can I talk to you?"

"Um....sure," he said uncertainly.

"Listen, it's been over two months....I really miss you," she looked heartbroken, and that was when everyone could see what Albus' absence from her life had cost her.

"Rose," Albus looked somewhere between guilty and depressed as he gave her a hug. "I'm sorry, I've been such an idiot."

"I know," said Rose, wiping away her tears, "Does this make us friends now?"

"Definitely. As long as Scorpius, Clarice, and James don't hate me. I really don't like Clarice anymore. Promise! Can you ask her to ask James to come over here tonight? I'll meet you in the Heads' Common Room."

"Sure."

* * *

That night Albus came up to the Heads' Common Room to see James, Clarice, Annabel, Rose, and Scorpius all standing there. Scorpius and Rose were sitting on the couch, his arms around her waist, Annabel was sitting in an armchair, and James and Clarice were still standing. It looked like James had just arrived, because they were both standing right on the hearth, kissing fiercely.

Albus cleared his throat and said, "Guys?"

Clarice and James broke apart and James said, "Hey Al."

"I have to go," said Al, "but I wanted a friend to meet you. It's been a while since you've seen her James. Come on in, Marissa." James and Rose both paled while Scorpius, Annabel, and Clarice looked confused. Annabel, Rose and Scorpius all stood up to see the newcomer, and James and Clarice separated, but kept their hands clasped. A straight haired, tall, platinum blond came walking in.

She walked right up to James and slapped him, hard. She then said, "You bastard. That's for that day...I never got to repay you properly. Well, actually I did, but apparently you need a refresher. Clarice," she looked kindly at Clarice, "It is Clarice right?" Clarice nodded. "I would get out now, while you still can, once you hear what he's capable of."

"Clarice, listen," said James urgently, "it was a long time ago, that's not who I am anymore."

"What's going on?" asked Clarice.

"Why yes, Marissa," said Albus with a smirk, "Clarice doesn't know the story. I'm sure that Scorpius and Annabel are rather curious as well. Why don't you tell them?"

"How dare you?" growled Rose, "Get out! Both of you!"

"I'm doing her a favor Rose," said Marissa, "As her best friend I thought you'd want what's best for her, and James isn't. You know what happened that summer."

"What happened?" asked Scorpius, earning him a kick from Rose. "You idiot!" whispered Rose, "Stop making it worse!"

"Why, I'd _love _to tell you," said Marissa, sitting down.

**A/N: So what _did_ happen that summer? REVIEW with your guesses!**


	17. One Summer

"Clarice, how many serious boyfriends have you had?" asked Marissa as they sat down.

"Define serious," said Clarice carefully, looking warily at James.

"You dated for four months or more," specified Marissa.

Clarice thought for a moment before saying "Three."

"Are you counting James?" asked Marissa curiously.

"No," said Clarice, "We've only been dating three months."

"I thought we were serious," said James, he looked a little hurt.

Clarice kissed his nose and said, "We are, but we haven't been dating four months yet."

"Now," said Marissa, "When these three relationships ended, who ended it? You or the guy?"

"Well," said Clarice, "I ended two of the three, and the guy ended other one."

"How did that feel?" asked Marissa.

"Terrible," said Clarice, "Miserable. But, in hindsight it was _definitely_ better for me."

"Just," said Marissa, "Keep that in mind as the story proceeds, okay?" Clarice nodded, while James and Rose groaned as Marissa continued, "So, James and I started going a month before fourth year ended. We went out all summer too. The day of our four month anniversary he ended it--"

"That's all he did?" interrupted Clarice.

"No," said Marissa darkly, "That is _not_ all he did. I was pretty torn up about it, I really liked him. I thought I might even have loved him, so you can imagine how upset I was. He ended it a week before we went back to Hogwarts, so I'd had a little time to get used to the idea before I saw him again, but I was still really upset. Then, on the train he told me he wanted to try again. I was really excited, because I'd missed him a lot, and he said he'd really missed me. So, all that day we went out, sat on the train together, and then at dinner together, even though I wasn't a Gryffindor I sat with them. Everyone saw, and all the girls were really jealous, because everyone was always jealous of the girl who was dating James. Then, he snogged me right in front of everyone. I was so happy we were back together, but then, the next morning he told me the truth."

"Marissa!" interrupted James, "I apologized later. I really am sorry about what I did, but I was only fifteen. I was a real idiot then!"

Marissa snorted, before continuing, "I found out that morning, that the only reason he'd gotten back together with me was to make Page Zabini, a Ravenclaw in our year, jealous. The entire school heard about it. Page was a real bitch, so she spread the story far and wide once she and James started going out. It was humiliating to have everyone know how I had been used. That's why you shouldn't go out with him. He never sticks with a girl past the four month mark, and if he does it won't be long before he uses her. You seem really nice Clarice, don't let him do that to you." Marissa stood up, saying, "When Al wrote to me I was really glad, because I didn't want another poor, innocent girl to have to suffer what I did," and with that she left the room. Only Scorpius, Rose, and Al saw the smirk that played on her face. Clarice was too busy looking at James, and Annabel had her head in her hands, thinking.

"Is that true?" asked Clarice, her voice barely above a whisper. Looking at James in a silent plea for him to deny it.

"Clarice," he looked heartbroken as he spoke, "That was a long time ago. It's different with you, I--"

"Is it true?" she demanded, tears running down her cheeks.

"Yes," he whispered, "But, I really care about you. I--I love you." The entire room gasped. They had never expected James, who was not exactly known for commitment, to say that so soon. He'd never said that to a girl before, and he rarely even said it to his own family. He didn't often express serious emotions, and when he did it was always taken seriously.

"Did you tell her that to?" asked Clarice angrily as she stood up, "How do I know if anything you've said to me is real?" she tears were streaming down her cheeks, and a very audible sob was heard before the portrait hole had closed.

"Clarice!" called James, getting out and running after her.

Albus smirked, and was about to leave when Rose grabbed his arm and said, "I know you're in love with Clarice, but why would you make them both so unhappy?" she looked close to tears herself.

"I'm not in love with Clarice anymore," he said.

"Yeah right!" snorted Annabel, "Then why do this?"

Al was about to answer when Scorpius cut in, holding out at tiny bottle of Veritaserum, "If you can still say that after you've drunk all of this we'll believe you."

Albus took the bottle and downed it then asked, "What do you want to know?"

"Do you still love Clarice?" asked Rose.

"No," came Albus' reply.

"When did you stop loving her?" asked Scorpius.

"Well," said Al, "I realized after about a month of ignoring you, that I was being really stupid. She's my best friend, but nothing more. I guess you could say that I just got over her. All I needed was a bit of time."

"Why do this then?" asked Annabel.

"Because," said Albus, "I love Clarice like a sister, and I know how bad James would be for her. But, the real reason is that I'm still mad at James. Even if I don't love Clarice anymore, he still turned against me, and snatched away what mattered most to me, so I thought I'd snatch away what mattered most to him."

Albus still had that infuriating smirk on his face, and Rose could not take it. She walked right up to him and kicked him in that place that guys do _not_ like to be kicked.

"Rose," said Scorpius fairly. "Don't get me wrong," he said quickly as she glared at him, "I'm all for slapping him or something, he's being an asshole," Al was too consumed with his present pain to object to the term, "But don't you think that was a bit below the belt?"

"No," said Rose with a glare, before turning back to Albus, "OUT!" she said angrily, and she all but pushed him out the door. She then ran over to the writing desk, still fuming. She looked so angry that steam would soon be coming off of her.

"What are you doing?" asked Annabel.

"Writing to Aunt Ginny," said Rose, putting the quill to the page so ferociously that it tore right through the parchment, making a hole.

_Dear Aunt Ginny,_

_Al told us that he wanted to apologize and tell James and Clarice he's sorry, so James came over tonight (yes, the Head Boy and Head Girl broke the rules, gasp). When Al arrived he brought Marissa! You remember Marissa! He had Marissa tell Clarice the whole story just to ruin their relationship, and he doesn't even love Clarice anymore! He just wanted revenge because he's a spiteful, hateful boy! Clarice is really upset, because now she's scared that everything James is telling her is a lie, and he even told her that he loved her (I can hear the squealing from here), but it wasn't enough. He's gone to find her, but I thought you should send Al a howler, and do something horrible to him. He's ruined everything! HELP!!!  
_

_Love, Rose_

Satisfied Rose tied the letter to Rowan and watched him fly way.

* * *

"Clarice!" James called, tearing down the corridor. _I have to find her! _He thought desperately. _I need to explain. She has to know that what I feel for her is real. I've never felt that way about any other girl, ever._

And then he saw her, sprinting towards the Ravenclaw Common Room. She answered the question quickly, before James was even close enough to hear it, and went in, slamming the door behind her.

_I can't believe I was so stupid,_ thought Clarice as she sat down in an armchair by the fire. She didn't want to go to bed, afraid her sobbing would wake her roommates. It was after midnight, so she was alone. _I thought he cared about me! He might_ said a small voice in the back of her head _everything he said might have been true. He might really love you....No, I can't trust him, even though I _really_ want to. All he's ever shown me is compassion, but isn't that all he'd ever shown her? I think I might love him, but if he doesn't love me, if he'd turn on me and humiliate me like that. I know dating is a risk, because they can break your heart (look at Annabel and Al) but I never thought James was capable of using someone like that. He was really young though.......he may have changed, but..._The internal arguments seemed to go in circles in her head as she sat there.

James arrived at the door panting and knocked.

_"What is the solution to every lover's quarrel?" _asked the bird in it's sing-song voice. _Ugh_ thought James, _A bird that knows all about your problems. How nice..._sarcasm was evident, even in his thoughts.

"Apologize?" guessed James.

The door didn't open.

"Explain?"

Still the door remained shut.

James thought about what he wanted to say to Clarice most right now, other than an explanation and an apology. "I love you," he said slowly.

_"Well said, but I'm not the one who needs to hear it." _said the bird, and the door swung open. _Bloody bird,_ thought James, _what does it know?_

He saw Clarice curled up in an armchair, and took a deep breath before walking over to her.

**A/N: Cliff Hanger!!! I want to know what you guys think about Marissa's story...was it not dramatic enough? Too far fetched? I actually know someone where that happened to them, so I know it sucks (I was the shoulder-to-cry-on in that situation.) REVIEW!!!**


	18. I Love You

"Clarice," he said quietly, walking over to her.

She looked up, surprised and asked, "How did you get in?"

"I answered the question."

"Oh," there was a horribly awkward silence before Clarice said, "What do you want?"

"To talk."

"So talk." She knew she wasn't making it easier for him, but she wanted to know what he had to say when she didn't prompt him, she wanted to know what he could think of on his own.

"Clarice," he said, kneeling down on the floor next to her chair, "You can't honestly think that I'm that person anymore, can you?"

"How am I supposed to know?" tears were still lingering on her face, and as he spoke he reached up and gently wiped them away.

"If I was still that person, do you think I would be here now. If I was still such a horrible git do you think I would put in the effort to find you? Clarice, I _care_ about you. I can't survive without you. You're so amazing. You're funny, smart, compassionate, caring, and just perfect. I really want you to believe me. I would _never_ use you like that, because I can't bear the thought of losing you."

"I'll bet that's what you told her," she said, tears still falling down her cheeks.

"Clarice, no. You're the only person I've ever cared about this much that wasn't related to me, and to be honest I don't really care this much about most of my relatives," she couldn't help but giggle a little as he continued, "I want us to work. _Please_ trust me. I know that you know deep inside that that's not who I am anymore. I haven't been that person for a while. Clarice, I was _fifteen_! How many people are mature at fifteen? I changed, and by the middle of sixth year I was looking back on who I was with disgust. I still do. Whenever I think about what I did to her I feel truly awful. It's one of the worst things I've ever done in my life." He looked heartbroken, and it was obvious that every word he said was coming from his heart.

"I want to believe you," she said, "But how can I be sure? I want to trust you, but I don't know if things can go back to the way they were."

"Clarice," he looked right into her eyes as he said it, he wanted to make sure that she knew it was the truth, "No matter what you say I'm not going anywhere. I'll do whatever it takes to earn your trust again. I love;"

That last phrase was what did it. She lunged forward and hugged him. They were both flying on some indescribable high. "I love you too," she whispered in his ear. Tears were still falling down her cheeks, only they were tears of joy. She knew that she could believe him, and even if she couldn't, hearing those words made her realize that it was a risk she was willing to take. She knew that he wouldn't do that to her, because he _loved_ her.

**A/N: Hey guys!!! So I know that this wasn't the longest chapter ever written, but I thought the makeup deserved it's own chapter. REVIEW!!!  
**


	19. Aftermath

* * *

**This is _fan_ fiction, therefore, it isn't written by J.K., but by a _fan_. If I was J.K. I would make this into a book!**

"We have to make sure they're okay," said Rose. She and Scorpius were in the Heads Common Room, waiting for James to return and use the fire. Annabel had gone to bed.

"No, we don't. James isn't back, which means that they're talking it out. You just want to eavesdrop," said Scorpius with a glare. Rose had the grace to look ashamed.

"Fine," she muttered, "I give it half an hour, and then I'm going to Ravenclaw Common Room, and---Oh my God!" she nearly shrieked.

"What?" asked Scorpius urgently.

"Albus." said Rose, as if that explained everything.

"Yes, Albus is a slimy git, but we all already knew that, no need to blow out my eardrums."

"No you idiot! Albus will be heading back to Ravenclaw tower, where they're trying to talk!"

"Shit!" said Scorpius, getting up and heading towards the portrait hole.

"What are we going to do?" asked Rose as they ran down the corridor.

"We're going to stand outside the door and wait for Al."

"What if we're too late?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

They arrived out of breath at the door to Ravenclaw tower,and strained their ears for signs of shouting through the doors.

"I can't hear anything," whispered Scorpius, frustratedly.

"That's good," whispered Rose, "That means that A. Al isn't in there, and B. They've worked it out."

"You forgot C." said Scorpius darkly, "She pushed James through the fireplace in there and he's at his house in London crying his eyes out."

"You're such a pessimist," muttered Rose.

Just then Albus came walking down the hallway, his head bowed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked angrily when he arrived.

"Nothing," said Rose quickly.

"Well, move, I need to get in."

"No," said Scorpius, placing himself right in front of the knocker.

"Guys," said Albus, "If you're trying to stop me from barging in on James and Clarice you can stop. James already left," he said with a smirk.

Rose and Scorpius' faces fell, as they moved aside to let Al knock on the door. They had been sure they would make up.

_"When is the end of time?" _asked the bird in it's sing-song voice.

"Infinitely forever, which is to say, never," said Albus.

_"Well reasoned," _said the bird, allowing the door to swing open.

James and Clarice were both asleep on the couch, her head on his shoulder, his arm around her waist.

Rose turned to Al and whispered furiously "You dirty, little liar!!! You _knew_ they were still in here! You could've ruined everything!"

"Well, that _was_ the idea," he said with a smirk, climbing the staircase to bed.

"We need to wake them up," said Scorpius.

"Why?" asked Rose, "They look so happy when they're asleep."

"Yeah, but tomorrow when half of Ravenclaw is in here staring at them, while the other half is off to tell McGonagall they won't be so happy."

"Oh....right," said Rose. She walked over the couch and shook James' shoulder.

"What?" he asked in a whisper, careful not to wake Clarice, who had stirred slightly.

"You need to go," said Rose, "If they find you here tomorrow it'll mean big trouble for all of us."

"Oh," said James, looking back down at Clarice. He shifted her carefully onto the couch so that she was lying down, and then stood up and stretched. "What happened to Albus?" he asked, as he took out a parchment and quill.

"Well," said Scorpius, "He's upstairs now, but he was going to try and sneak in and mess everything up again, but we wouldn't let him."

"Thanks," said James. He had finished writing, set the parchment next to Clarice, and then walked with Scorpius and Rose back to the Heads Common Room.

Before he got in the fire James said, "When's your last day of term?"

"Next Friday," said Rose.

"You lot coming to the Burrow, or do you need to study?"

"We're coming," said Scorpius, "And so are Clarice and Annabel. I don't know about Al though."

"Oh," he said, "So, I'll see you in..." he thought, "five days. Bye!" and with that he _whooshed _out of sight.

"I hope Al decides to stay here," said Rose.

"I bet he will. After you wrote to Mrs. Potter I'm sure she'll kill him if he shows up."

"Yeah," said Rose, giving him a kiss, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

* * *

Clarice awoke with a start as the first trickles of sunlight began pouring into the Ravenclaw Common Room through the big glass window. She looked around but didn't see James. She was about to get up when she saw the parchment lying beside her.

_Dear Clarice,_

_I had to go because Rose and Scorpius made me, but I'll see you really soon (Easter, right?) and I'll write even sooner. Sorry I didn't get to say goodbye, but you looked so peaceful sleeping, and I didn't want to wake you. Sleep well!_

_Love, James_

When Clarice saw his closing line her heart soared. He really _did_ love her. And she knew she loved him too. She couldn't wait for Easter.

**So, another relatively short chapter. As you can tell from the buildup _something _is going to happen during the Easter Holidays, and I'd LOVE to hear your guesses as to what. PLEASE review! I know how many of you subscribe, and if all of you reviewed every chapter I'd have well over 500 reviews, but since none of you review I don't even have 100. PLEASE REVIEW!!!**


	20. Another Holiday

When Clarice appeared at the Burrow for the start of the Easter holidays the first thing she saw was a joyful Molly Weasley who hugged her tightly and said, "Clarice, dear, so glad you could come!"

"Thanks for inviting me," said Clarice.

"Oh, it was no trouble dear, no trouble," said Molly, releasing Clarice to greet Rose who had just appeared.

Clarice walked through the living room, and started to ascend the stairs when a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist from behind. She turned around and said, "James!" They kissed passionately for a moment before Fred, who had arrived earlier said, "Get a room!"

They broke apart, except for their linked hands, and made their way into the kitchen. Rose and Scorpius were sitting with Annabel at the table being fussed over by Molly who said, "Oh, I see you've found James. Good. Now, if you'd like I can--" she stopped dead as Albus walked out of the fire.

"Hey Grandma," he said, giving her a hug, which she returned nervously. Apparently Al hadn't seen James and Clarice, and if he had then he was giving them the silent treatment. To everyone's surprise he said, "Hey guys!" while looking directly at James and Clarice.

James and Clarice both mumbled, "Hi" nervously, but they could barely be heard over Rose, who had stood up and was shouting.

"Albus Severus Potter! You just waltz back in here and pretend like nothing happened? You can't do that!"

"Rose," said Scorpius quietly, grabbing her hand and trying to pull her back down into her seat.

"You can't just pretend like everything can go back to normal! After all the things you did you can't just say 'Do over! Pretend that didn't happen!' It doesn't work like that Al! I can't believe that you--"

"Rose," said Scorpius again, louder still. But Rose was on a roll.

"just act like nothing happened! Ignored the whole lot of us, you did! For weeks, _weeks_! Treated us like we were dirt on your shoes, and Marissa! _Marissa_! And then you just--"

"Rose, sweety," said Molly, but Rose ignored her.

"I can't believe you, I really can't! After all this time you just--"

"ROSE!" shouted Scorpius. He was worried that Rose's explosion would bring out a relapse of the 'slimy git' model of Al they'd been enjoying for the last few months. Rose finally heeded Scorpius and sat down, glaring at Albus.

However, Albus seemed totally calm and said to Annabel, "Hey. You wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure," she said, looking anxiously at Rose, who was sending her the 'traitor!' look.

Al and Annabel got up and left through the screen door without another word.

"Rose, dear," said Molly, "Let him make amends, he--"

"That wasn't making amends," said Rose, standing up again, "That was pretending nothing had happened!"

"Rose," said Scorpius, putting both arms around her waist from behind, "Let it go. It's the holidays. Why don't we play Quiditch?"

"Sure!" said both James and Rose enthusiastically, while Molly looked thankfully over at Scorpius and said, "What a good idea."

"Only Clarice looked unconvinced, saying, "I'm really not a good flier. I--"

"Don't worry," said James, "You can ride with me, and we'll still beat them.

"Why don't we grab Roxanne, Fred and Hugo?" asked Rose, "Then you guys can take Roxanne and Fred on your team, and we'll have Hugo. Then it'll be three on three."

"Okay," said James, as they headed out the door.

* * *

The afternoon passed peacefully enough, with one exception. Rose didn't have another outburst, but Ginny did. She had done it when she first saw Albus. Luckily, they were alone in the living room, but even behind closed doors you could hear the shouting throughout the house.

"Albus Severus Potter I am _very _disappointed in you! You could have ruined _everything_! Ignoring them was one thing, but bringing Marissa! I can't believe you!" It went on for about half an hour, and then Harry arrived and was able to calm Ginny down.

As the week progressed the house slowly began to divide down the middle between people who were speaking to/accepting Albus and people who weren't. James, Clarice, Rose, Scorpius, Fred, Roxanne, Hugo, Teddy, Victoire, Ginny, Charlie, George, Angelina, and Fleur weren't speaking to Albus, and Annabel, Lorcan, Lily, Louis, Dominique, Bill, Arthur, Molly, Molly II, Lucy, Percy, Audry, and Bill all were.

Despite the division everyone was being friendly to each other, with the obvious exception of Albus. Easter was approaching and everyone was doing their best to enjoy the holiday. Lorcan, who seemed to have gotten over Clarice, had started going out with Lily, much to everyone's delight, so they were rarely seen apart. Annabel and Albus, while keeping their relationship strictly on the friend level, were never separated. James, Clarice, Rose and Scorpius spent most of their time together, and were often joined by the twins, Fred and Roxanne. It was, overall, a peaceful time for the group, who ignored Albus as if he was wall paper, and as time went on that became an easier and easier thing to do.

* * *

Easter morning dawned bright and early, and Clarice opened her eyes to find herself, not in her and Rose's room, but in the living room. Her head was on James shoulder, and she could feel a warm arm around her waist. She smiled contentedly, and was about to go back to sleep when someone whispered "Clarice!" She looked around in confusion and saw Rose and Scorpius asleep on the other couch, but it took her a moment to find the source of the whisper. Albus was standing in the doorway, beckoning for her to follow him. She stood up, looked quickly at James, and then followed Albus out of the living room, through the backdoor, and into the garden.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"To apologize. I'm sure Rose and Scorpius told you I don't like you any more, well, not _that_ way." Clarice nodded as Al continued, "So......I'm sorry. I don't want to fight anymore, not with you, not with James, not with anyone. James is my brother and you're one of my best mates, so I can't stand not speaking to you. Scorpius _is_ my best mate, and we haven't spoken in months. It's killing me. I just want things to go back to the way they were."

"Al," said Clarice, "It's going to be okay." She gave him a hug, and then said, "Come on, why don't we wake the others?"

**Hey Guys! I thought it'd be helpful to make a list of all of the second generations and their ages for you, so here it is:**

**Teddy: 26, nine years out of Hogwarts**

**Victoire: 25, eight years out of Hogwarts  
**

**James: 18, a year out of Hogwarts**

**Clarice: 17, seventh year**

**Rose: 17, seventh year**

**Scorpius: 17, seventh year**

**Lorcan: 17, seventh year**

**Albus: 17, seventh year**

**Annabel: 17, seventh year**

**Dominique: 17, seventh year (I know I'll get this question so I'll answer it now: she doesn't hang out with them because she's a Slytherin, and kind of snooty)  
**

**Lily: 16, sixth year**

**Hugo: 16, sixth year**

**Fred: 16, sixth year**

**Roxanne: 16, sixth year**

**Louis: 14, fourth year**

**Molly: 8, three years before Hogwarts**

**Lucy: 8, three years before Hogwarts**

**Peter: 2, nine years before Hogwarts**

**A/N: So.....is Al's apology genuine this time??? REVIEW and then I'll update, and you can find out!  
**


	21. Break Up

Clarice and Albus walked into the living room quietly.

"James," whispered Clarice, kissing him gently. He awoke with a smile and kissed her eagerly, while Albus woke Scorpius and Rose.

When James saw Albus he pulled Clarice a bit closer to him on the couch. She whispered "It's okay," in his ear, which made him feel slightly better. Whatever Al was up to Clarice was in on it apparently.

"Guys," said Albus, "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry. I was a real idiot this whole time, and I feel terrible about it. I want things to go back to the way they were if that's possible, that is, if you want things to go back to the way they were." He looked really nervous as he said all this, because, after all that he did he wasn't so sure they'd accept his apology.

"Of course we accept it!" said Scorpius. Out of all of them, he had missed Al the most. He ran forward and gave Albus a hug, and then looked expectantly at James, Rose, and Clarice.

"I think," said Clarice, "That things can go back to the way they were."

"Well," said James uncertainly. However much he had tried to hide it, he had been devastated at Albus' behavior, "If Clarice is okay with it, then so am I."

Albus walked over to the couch and said, "James, mate, I really am sorry."

"I know," said James, "and I suppose I forgive you, but if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I won't."

"I know." Everyone looked at Rose, who looked furious.

"I don't think things can go back to the way they were. I'm not going to forgive you Albus, and," she looked at Scorpius, Clarice, and James, "you guys shouldn't either. You know what he put us all through! You can't just forgive him!"

"But," said Albus, "I really am sorry."

"Oh, you're _sorry_! Well, I guess that that just takes back everything you did!"

"No, it doesn't" said Scorpius, "But he can't change what he did, now all he can do is make up for it, which is what he's doing. He's our best mate Rose, and you're being really mean about this. He--"

"Scorpius Malfoy! Don't you _dare_ try to turn me into the bad guy here! He put us through all of this crap, and we aren't just going to forgive him!"

"What else can we do?" asked Scorpius, "I believe him."

"Well I don't"

"Rose, you're being unfair. I think--"

"You know what, Scorpius, I don't give a _damn _about what you think!"

"Well, good thing too, because I don't care!....jump off a bridge....I couldn't care less!"

Clarice, James, and Albus just stared. Rose and Scorpius never fought, ever. Since the Lysander episode they had gotten along perfectly, and were getting really serious.

"Well, I guess that's all we need to say!" said Rose, turning on her heel. At the door she looked back and said, "We're through!"

"Well FINE!" shouted Scorpius, leaving through the other door.

The silence in the room was louder than an explosion.

**A/N: Short, I know, but I wanted to give the breakup time to sink in before the next chapter. So, what do you think? Plausible? REVIEW!**

* * *


	22. Fate's on Vacation

"What just happened?" asked James, looking confused.

"I--I think they just broke up," said Clarice. The words sounded strange and foreign in her mouth. Not normal at all.

"But, I don't even get _why_," said James.

"Because of me," said Al, "This is my fault, so I've gotta fix it."

"No," said Clarice firmly, "You'll only make it worse. I'm going to talk to Rose, but I don't know who'll talk to Scorpius."

"I will," said James, "Just, figure out what he's thinking."

"Don't go right away," said Al, "Give them half an hour."

* * *

"Hey Rose?" Clarice had walked into their room about 45 minutes after the breakup.

Rose didn't respond. She was curled up in a ball on the bed, sobbing quietly into her quilt.

"Rose," said Clarice, sitting down next to her.

"What?" asked Rose angrily, sitting up as tears streamed down her cheeks, "Are you here to tell me how awful I am too?"

"Well, yes and no," said Clarice, "I just want to know why you did it."

"Because he's being so _stupid_!"

"He's been stupid before, and you've never broken up."

"Well..." she hesitated before continuing, "When he said he didn't care, I didn't want to care. I _wanted_ to not need him, to prove I didn't have to care. But I do. I do care!"

"But, Rose, you said you didn't care about what he thought. Of course he was angry."

"I know!" said Rose through her sobs, "But he doesn't care about me at all! It was too good to last."

"Rose, how about--"

"Just go, please!" She had curled back up, and was again sobbing into her quilt.

"Okay, I'll tell them all you aren't feeling well, and don't want Easter dinner."

Rose responded with a sob.

* * *

"Scorpius?" James had found him in the apple orchards, sitting in a tree. He was pale, and had tears running down his cheeks. He didn't respond, so James said again, "Scorpius! You okay?"

"Do I look okay?" asked Scorpius angrily.

"Mate, talk to me."

"What do you want me to say? We broke up. I always knew it was too good to be true."

"So, that's it. You're not going to fight for it?" asked James. He was a little peeved that Scorpius would just give up.

"What could I have done?"

"Well," said James, he was getting pretty irritated, "You could have A. Been a bit nicer about the Al thing, B.--"

"But I was right!"

James ignored him as he continued, "B. You shouldn't have told her you didn't care."

"I know," sighed Scorpius, "The worst thing is, I care more about her than anyone else in my life."

"So tell her."

"We broke up. I can't fix it. There wasn't anything I could've done."

"You could've stopped her! You just let her walk away."

"Because that's what she wants. I've never been able to deny her that, and you know it. So what if what she wants makes me miserable? I'm happier when she has what she wants than when I have what I want."

James sighed as he said, "Mate, you've got it bad."

"I love her. Always have, always will," said Scorpius, before turning to look at the clear horizon.

"Well," said James, "I'll just tell them you're too sick to eat Easter dinner," and with that he walked away.

* * *

"What happened?" asked Annabel, corning Clarice, James, and Albus in the living room before Easter dinner.

"What do you mean?" asked Albus quickly, they had decided not to tell anyone about Rose and Scorpius, keeping up the hope that they'd get back together.

"Rose and Scorpius have vanished from sight. I know something's up with them. I might not be a Ravenclaw but I'm not stupid," said Annabel.

"Fine," muttered James, sitting down on the couch. He told the whole story, and then he and Clarice shared what they'd learned during their conversations with Rose and Scorpius.

"We have to do something!" said Annabel.

"Yeah, but what?" asked Clarice.

"I don't know," said James, "what if--"

"DINNER!" called Molly from the kitchen.

"Ugh!" said all four of them together.

* * *

"Where are Rose and Scorpius?" asked Hermione as they all sat down.

"They're sick," said Clarice calmly.

"Really?" asked Fleur, looking worried, "Do zey need something. Are zey alright? 'Ow about we fix zem up a potion?"

"No need," said Albus, "They said they just needed some sleep."

"Well," said Molly, "We'll bring them up some plates."

"No," said James, "That's okay, they really aren't hungry."

"James," said Ginny threateningly, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," said James, a little too quickly.

"The last time 'nothing' was happening at this house was before you lot were born," said Angelina.

"Yeah, spill it," said George.

"They really aren't feeling well," said Annabel. It wasn't a lie...really.

"What happened?" asked Harry.

"Well," Albus looked at James, Annabel, and Clarice before continuing, "They broke up."

"What?" to everyone's surprise the cry came from Ron.

"Well, when Al apologized," said Clarice, "They had a fight. Scorpius wanted to forgive him, and Rose didn't, and then...." she trailed off.

"But," said Ron. He looked like he was having an internal struggle, "But, they'll make up, won't they? I mean..."

"You were always complaining about them!" said Ginny.

"Yeah, but the kid's grown on me," explained Ron, "Anyway, Rose is crazy about him."

"They will make up, won't they?" asked Hermione, looking worried.

"I hope so," said James.

After this news the rest of the dinner was rather subdued. Everyone had gotten to like Scorpius quite a bit, and lately he and Rose had been a joint package. No one ever said Rose without Scorpius being two words away, and vice versa. No one ever saw Scorpius without Rose being beside him. They were all in shock. Pure shock.

* * *

Hermione knocked once on Rose's door, but she didn't really expect an answer. She came in and saw Rose sitting on the bed, looking out the window. She wasn't sobbing anymore, but silent tears were trickling down her face.

"Sweetie, talk to me. Please," said Hermione.

"What do you want me to say. We broke up, and I'm going to have to deal with it."

"Why not try and fix it?"

"Because this is better....for him, and for me."

"What?" asked Hermione incredulously.

"It was too good to last anyway," said Rose, repeating her earlier words to Clarice, "He's better off without me."

"Sweetie, I--"

"Please, just go."

"But--"

"Mum, go!"

Hermione left, feeling more worried then ever.

On her way downstairs she came across Albus, "Hey Al, is Scorpius still here?" she asked. She still had hope of getting the two of them to talk.

"Nah," said Albus sadly, "He left about an hour ago. Looked terrible too, really miserable."

"Oh," said Hermione quietly, walking away.

* * *

The entire house was a sadder place during the rest of the holidays. Rose barely left her room. The only time she did was for meals, which her mother was making her eat, and to go on long walks alone in the orchards. No one really ever saw her, and when they did she was empty. She responded to direct questions, but she was dead. Her eyes had no light to them. It wasn't much better at the Malfoys. Scorpius wouldn't talk to his parents, and only ate because his mother made him. Other then that he sat in his room all day.

"We have to _do_ something!" said Clarice, and she tore up another letter from Scorpius. It didn't even qualify as a letter. They'd been writing to him non-stop the entire holidays, and he hadn't responded until now. All the parchment said was _Stop_

"What though?" asked Annabel.

"I have a plan," said James.

"I guess Fate's on vacation again," said Albus.

**A/N: So...what do you think the plan is??? I'd love a review!!!**


	23. Detention

"Okay," said James, "We'll have to wait until we get back to school, obviously, and when we do it, we should--"

"I _told_ you," said Albus, "It isn't going to work!"

"Al, we've been over this. _I'm_ the one withe experience in this field, and I'm running this project."

"But my plan--" but Albus was cut off by James.

"Your plan is stupid, we are _not_ just going to lock them in a closet. How unoriginal! Plus, A. We'd get in trouble, B. They'd kill us when they got out, and C. It would never work."

"They really like each other," said Annabel, "So why don't we just wait for them to sort it out themselves?"

All three of the others laughed, and through fits of hysteria James said, "You didn't know them before they went out. Two of the most stubborn people ever! _Sort it out themselves!_ Ha!"

"Fine," grumbled Annabel, "Get back to the plan then."

"Well," said James, "Before I was so rudely interrupted I was explaining the details. Obviously I can't be there, so you'll have to follow my instructions exactly," he glared at Albus before continuing, "You've got to get them into the Great Hall during dinner, so that there are tons of people there. Then, they're going to fight, and--"

"We tried the fighting thing last time," said Clarice, "It won't work."

"I'm not relying on sexual tension, Clarice," said James, and Al noticed with a "Hmph" that he was a lot nicer when his girlfriend suggested something. "We need them to have a real screaming match in the Great Hall, and then they'll get detention."

"So?" asked Annabel.

"So," said James, clearly upset they hadn't grasped the brilliance of the plan, "Forcing them to be alone together in a detention will help them sort out their issues."

"Why is that different from the closet idea?" asked Al.

"If we did the closet thing they would know it was us, and they're both too stubborn to do what we want. They wouldn't get back together because they'd know that we were trying to get them to. This way they won't know we had a hand in it."

"Smart," said Clarice.

"I know," said James, earning him a giggle and a kiss on the cheek.

"Guys!" said Annabel, pretending to shield her eyes, "Can we focus?"

"Fine," grumbled James, "You're going to get them to fight, and here's how you're going to do it."

* * *

The first day of term was awkward. Extremely awkward. On the train Rose sat with Annabel and Clarice, while Albus sat with Scorpius. Albus had it worse off, because, while Rose didn't talk at all Clarice and Annabel could talk to each other, but Albus didn't have anyone to talk to the whole ride, because Scorpius certainly wasn't talking. He would have liked to have Lorcan there for company, but as usually lately, Lorcan had opted to sit with Lily, something that annoyed Albus so no end. How come all the blokes with girlfriends got out of the hard work? That only brought his mind back to a petite brunette.

Once they reached the Great Hall for dinner they put the plan in motion. Rose and Scorpius were sitting on either side of Albus (Rose having grudgingly forgiven him two days previously), and he knew he had to be the one to get the ball rolling. Clarice and Annabel had both been situated a safe distance away, at the Hufflepuff table.

"Rose, Scorpius," he said, and they both looked up, "You need to sort this out, now."

"Why?" asked Rose, talking to Albus, "Why would I want to get back together with a mean guy who doesn't care about me?"

"Why?" echoed Scorpius, addressing Albus, "Why would I want to get back together with an over reactor who doesn't 'give a _damn_' about me" He made sure to accent the air quotes around what Rose had said that day.

"Scorpius, tell me something," said Rose angrily, standing up, and Scorpius followed suit. They weren't shouting yet, but Al had a feeling that they would be soon. "Why is it that not caring about what someone thinks is worse than wanting someone to jump off a bridge?"

"I didn't _want_ you to then, but I do now!"

"You complete arse! You don't care about anyone unless it's convenient for you, do you?" asked Rose, and now they were both shouting.

"Just because I don't care about _you_ doesn't mean I don't care about anyone, does it? Who in their right mind would care about you, when you don't 'give a _damn_' about anyone else?"

By now the entire hall was listening silently.

"Maybe, if you were worth it, I would give a damn!"

"Well, why don't--" finally, Professor McGonagall intervened.

"Malfoy! Weasley!" she said, sweeping over to them, "Enough. Stop this racket. You are disturbing peace at this school and I won't have it. You will come to my office at eight o'clock on Friday night for detention."

"What?" asked Scorpius incredulously, while Rose said, "I'm not going with _him_!"

"Oh yes you are!" snapped McGonagall, "Now, not another word. If you intend to have a shouting match, do it in your own common room, in case you've forgotten, you share one," and with that she swept away, leaving a furious Rose and Scorpius behind her.

At the Hufflepuff table, two Ravenclaws and a Hufflepuff were smirking.

* * *

Friday came too soon for Rose and Scorpius, and not soon enough for Annabel, Albus, Clarice, and James (who was getting daily reports by owl from Clarice). The day passed as the others during the week had, in prickly silences between Rose and Scorpius, and forced conversation from the other three. Unfortunately, Scorpius and Rose were in all the same classes, and were always assigned to work together, because they were both so bright. Needless to say they hadn't done very well in lessons that week. The fact that they shared a common room did little to help the situation. They spent most of their time in their separate rooms behind locked doors.

At seven forty-five they made their way down to McGonagall's office in silence, not even looking at each other. When they arrived McGonagall said, "Miss Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, you will be doing some lines for me. Sit down."

They sat where they were bidden, and waited for their instructions. "I want you to write 'I will not cause disruption in the Great Hall.'"

"How many times?" asked Rose and Scorpius together, before glaring at each other.

"However many times you can in two hours. I will be back then, and I expect to see two full sheets of parchment, and two _living_ and _uninjured_ seventeen year olds," and with that she swept away.

For about thirty minutes they wrote quietly, pausing only to glare at the other. Finally, Scorpius said, "This is your fault you know."

"_My_ fault?" asked Rose incredulously.

"_You_ were the one who started shouting."

"Well, _you_ were the one who started the argument!"

"Well we wouldn't have fought if _you_ hadn't started the fight on Easter!"

"Oh, so that's my fault too? This isn't all my fault, it takes two to fight, Scorpius!"

"Yeah, but only one to breakup apparently!" The silence that followed was loud compared to the shouting that had just taken place.

Finally Rose said what they were both thinking, "Why did we breakup?"

"Because of Albus," said Scorpius.

"No. That's why we fought. I mean, what's wrong with us that made us break up?" she looked hurt. Scorpius tried to catch her eye, but she determinedly looked away.

"Well," said Scorpius, "Lots of couples fight. I don't know why we broke up though." There was an even longer silence, as both thought about what had happened. Finally, Scorpius asked, "Why'd you do it?"

"Do what?"

"End it."

"Well..." she bit her lip, wondering if she should tell the truth or not. Finally she decided on the truth, "When you said...said that" tears were starting to form in the corners of her eyes, "that I could jump off a bridge for all you cared...I...I didn't want to care anymore. I wanted to prove that I didn't need you."

"Oh."

"Why....Why didn't you stop me? Did you really not care?"

"No! I just...I wanted to give you what you wanted, and if you wanted it to be over I couldn't deny you that. And, when you said that you didn't give a damn about me...I didn't want to give a damn about you either."

Rose mustered up all of her courage to ask the question that had been nagging her throughout the entire conversation. "Do you think that two people, who've done and said as many horrible things as we have could try again?"

**Well, can they??? REVIEW!!!**


	24. Some Time

Scorpius looked at Rose carefully. She was everything he'd ever wanted, and he needed her. _Don't do it!_ One part of his brain instructed, _It will only end badly for both of you. She deserves someone better!_ However, the other, and in his opinion, more selfish part of his brain was saying _You both want it, so do it! You love her, and she loves you, so try again!_

Finally, Scorpius said softly, "Rose, we've done and said so many terrible things, and I--I think that it wouldn't be smart to get back together. At least we need some time."

Rose looked at him. He thought he could see a tear in her eye, but she blinked and it vanished. She said, "I guess," and then continued writing. Scorpius felt dirty, contaminated. He felt like the most vile thing alive. He had just lied, blatantly lied to her. He knew it was better for her though, and that later, when she found a guy worthy of her, she would thank him. He felt sick at the very thought. The only reason he had added the last sentence was to stop his own heart from breaking. To give him enough to live for so that he didn't jump off the astronomy tower.

Finally, Professor McGonagall returned, and both Rose and Scorpius felt like it had been twelve hours, rather than two. "Have you finished? Good. Now, get back to your common room, and I don't want to see such a display of misbehavior from our Heads _ever_ again."

"Yes Professor," they said in unison, before leaving the office. When they reached the Heads Common Room each went up to their separate room.

Two parts of Rose's brain were fighting as she tried desperately to fall asleep. _Maybe he just wants time! NO! Don't be an idiot! That was his nice way of saying that he'll never take me back because I'm such an awful person. Maybe, if I wait...._

_I can't believe I said that! I'm going to have to live my entire life without the best thing in it because I said that!_ Thought Scorpius angrily, _But, at least she'll be happy. She didn't even look that upset. She'll be fine. She'll find someone who's perfect, and who doesn't say horrible, abusive things to her. She doesn't deserve a mess like me. She deserves better, whether she knows it or not._

Meanwhile, a Hufflepuff, two Ravenclaws, and an ex-Gryffindor were waiting desperately for news, little did they know the kind they'd find.

* * *

The next morning Clarice and Annabel met Rose in the Entrance Hall, expecting to hear squeals of delight at her and Scorpius' reunion, but no such sounds came. Al met a similar fate with Scorpius at breakfast. Though over the next few weeks neither showed any blatant signs of misery, it was obvious to those closest to them that they were hurting. While they both did their homework, went to Quiditch practice, did Head duties, and studied vigorously for N.E.W.T.s there wasn't any feeling in anything they did. Their grades didn't drop one percentile, and any outsider would think that nothing was wrong. However, Albus, Clarice, and Annabel knew how much they were really hurting. There was never any light behind their eyes, and they didn't seem to care about anything anymore.

As the final Quiditch match of the season, Gryffindor v. Ravenclaw, approached, Rose, Scorpius, Albus, Lorcan, Lysander, Sydney, and Rachel were on the field every day. The problem was that both Rose and Scorpius' performance levels had gone down slightly since the breakup. Scorpius was only hitting about 75% of the bludgers at his intended target, and Rose only saved about 75% of the goals shot at her. This might seem like a good average, but Rose and Scorpius were used to 98% accuracy, and everyone noticed the change, and could pinpoint it to the day after their detention, which was also the first Quiditch practice since the Easter holidays.

Annabel and Clarice were watching one of the practices with glum expressions.

"We've got to _do_ something!" exclaimed Clarice as Rose let the quaffle slip through her fingers and into the hoop.

"Yeah, I mean--whoa!" Annabel had been interrupted by a bludger that had flown right past her head after Scorpius had miss hit it.

"We'll talk to Al after practice is over," said Clarice.

* * *

"Hey Al!" called Annabel as she and Clarice approached him after practice.

"Yeah?" said Al.

"We need to try again with Rose and Scorpius," said Clarice.

"No," said Al, and both girls looked shocked, "We need to wait until after the match. If things get worse it'll--"

"Quiditch!" said Clarice angrily, "That's all you care about!"

"No, but it's better for them to wait to. Give them some time to cool off," said Al defensively.

"What do _you_ think about this?" asked Clarice, looking to Annabel for support. But Annabel wasn't even listening. She was staring off into space, her eyes hazy.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, never mind," snapped Clarice, "We'll wait. But once the match is over we need a plan."


	25. Gryffindor v Ravenclaw

The day of the Gryffindor v. Ravenclaw match had arrived, and needless to say, Sydney was having a heart attack.

"What is _wrong_ with them?" she asked Albus desperately.

"They broke up," said Albus, while silently adding _duh._

"Yes, but, they need to get their act together for the game!"

"Hopefully they will."

"They'd better," said Sydney, watching as Scorpius poked moodily at his cereal at the other end of the Ravenclaw table, and Rose smeared bread across her toast, the same way she had been for the past five minutes.

* * *

"Alright guys it's 40-10 to Gryffindor" called Annabel, who was commentating.

"Rose!" called Sydney angrily. So far Rose had only managed to save one goal of the five that had been shot at her.

"Sorry!" called Rose, as an oncoming Leanne Finnegan shot towards goal. Thankfully, Rose saved it, much to the delight of the Ravenclaws. Lorcan, Lysander, and Sydney managed to score a goal a piece, making things level, and so far Rachel was well in control of the bludgers. Meanwhile, Al raced around the pitch, looking desperately for the snitch, so that the game would end before either Rose or Scorpius really screwed up.

"And it's 50-40 to Ravenclaw!" called Annabel in delight as Lorcan scored again. And then he saw it...the snitch! Albus zoomed forward after it, when several things happened at once. Hugo hit a bludger, aiming for Sydney, but missing and hitting Rose's skull. Scorpius raced to catch her, but flew straight into Albus, who hadn't seen. The last thing Rose saw was Scorpius and Albus collide, before everything went black.

* * *

When Rose awoke she was blinded by the bright light above her bed. She sat up, and realized she was in the hospital wing. Clarice, Hugo, Lily, Annabel, Scorpius, Albus, Rachel, Sydney, Lorcan, and Lysander were all there as well.

"What...what happened?" she asked groggily, trying to remember.

"Hugo hit you with a bludger, remember?" said Syndey.

"Sorry about that," said Hugo.

"It cracked your skull in four places," said Annabel, "and then when you hit the ground you broke most of your ribs."

"Ugh," muttered Rose, before remembering what she had been doing when this happened. "Who won?"

"What?" asked Albus, incredulously, "You just broke half your bones and you want to know who _won_?"

"Yeah! I want to know if it was worth it!" said Rose.

"We won," said Sydney, "Al and Lily both lost sight of the snitch, and without a keeper we were loosing, but Al caught the snitch, and we won 200-190."

"Excellent!" said Rose, while Lily and Hugo grumbled.

"Are you sure you're okay?" asked Scorpius, making eye contact with her for the first time.

She made sure not to look away from him as she said, "Yeah. I'm okay."

"Only 4 visitors at a time!" said Madam Pomfrey, looking annoyed at the number of people surrounding Rose's bed.

Calls of "Bye Rose!" and "Feel better!" were said as they all left. Eventually it was just Albus, Annabel, and Scorpius.

Albus was about to say something when Annabel said, "Well Albus, we'd better go."

"But--Oh, okay," said Albus, in response to Annabel's elbow t o his ribs. They both left with a wave.

There was a moment of awkward silence. They hadn't spoken since their detention, and this was the first time they'd been alone together. He sat down in the chair nearest her. Rose was carefully examining her blanket when she heard Scorpius say "I'm sorry." Her eyes flashed up to look at him, and he looked straight back as he said, "I really am. I shouldn't have said all of those things."

"It isn't your fault," said Rose, still not breaking eye contact, "I was the one who, you know, ended it. I'm sorry too."

There was another awkward pause before Scorpius said, "Remember--remember when you asked me if we could, you know, try again?" she nodded as he continued, "Well, you still up for it? I mean, only if you want to. I just--"

He didn't get to finish because Rose had kissed him. For a moment they were just enjoying the feeling of being together again, and when they broke apart they both whispered, "I love you." They looked at each other for a long moment, and leaned in to kiss again when the hospital door banged open and Fred and Roxanne came in.

"We heard you were in the hospital wing, so we thought we'd check up on--oh!" Fred fell silent when he saw Scorpius and Rose, nose to nose.

"Well," said Roxanne, "We were just going so..." she trailed off as they started backing towards the door, only to run into Albus who yelled "Finally!"

Pretty soon they were joined by Clarice, Annabel, Lorcan, Lily, and Hugo, and not even Madam Pomfrey could quiet the group when they heard that Rose and Scorpius were back together.

**A/N: So drop me a review and tell me what you thought. Sorry it's a little short. I might not get to update again this week, because I've got a lot going on right now, but I'll try over the weekend. REVIEW!!!**


	26. NEWTs

N.E.W.T.s were a week away, and Rose was studying frantically. They all were of course, but Rose was taking studying to new extremes. She barely ate anymore, and never slept. Scorpius was getting really worried about her. There were nights where she wouldn't go down to dinner, she'd still be up studying when he went to bed at about midnight, and she'd have fallen asleep in her chair where Scorpius would find her the next day. The only meal she was getting every day was lunch. Most days she got dinner, but breakfast just didn't happen anymore.

When N.E.W.T.s arrived everyone was pretty high-strung. They were all in the Heads' Common Room the night before their first N.E.W.T., Herbology. Clarice was having hysterics.

"If I don't get an O on this my dad will _kill_ me!" she said desperately.

"Don't worry," said Annabel, "You know Herbology better than anyone I know. You'll be fine."

Clarice was about to retort when Lynx swooped in. She grinned and took the parchment from the owl. Her eyes slid down the page, until she laughed softly, and said, "He knows us so well. Listen to this: _I know that N.E.W.T.s are coming up, so can you make sure Rose is still eating and sleeping please?_" Scorpius glared at Rose who said defensively, "I had all three meals today! I need a full stomach when I take exams!" Clarice cleared her throat and continued, "_I'm sure Scorpius is not much better, but at least he'll remember to eat (well, at least more often then Rose does). Al's probably strutting around like an idiot saying he knows it all,_" Al grumbled, "_And I'm sure Annabel's just laughing at the rest of you. Please don't worry too much about Herbology, I know it's been bugging you. You'll do fine, and then you can be a Healer, just like you want to. See you soon! Love, James_" Clarice finished with a laugh.

Truth be told she had been really worried about Herbology, because if she wanted to be a Healer she would need at least an E, and her dad would want an O. She wasn't worried about anything else, thankfully. Rose and Scorpius both wanted to be Aurors, so they needed to do well in Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were also taking Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and were determined to do well in that to. Albus wanted to pursue a Quiditch career once he left school, but his parents wanted him to have the N.E.W.T.s, just in case it didn't work out, however he still wasn't too nervous. Annabel wanted to go into the Ministry, and become part of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, so she'd need a fair few N.E.W.T.s as well. On the whole the entire group was pretty freaked out, and everyone was dreading the next day's exam.

* * *

"Well, that wasn't too bad, was it?" asked Rose as they left the greenhouses.

"Yeah," said Scorpius as Clarice nodded.

Albus just shrugged and Annabel muttered something about "Stupid, Ravenclaw geniuses..."

They were on their way to lunch when Al said, "Scorpius, will you run up to the Heads' Common Room with me? I don't know the password," he glared pointedly at Rose, "And I think I left my Transfiguration books there, and the exam's tomorrow."

"Sure," said Scorpius, and they left the girls to head upstairs.

"So," said Scorpius, "What do you want to tell me?"

"How'd you know?"

"The Transfiguration book's in your bag, I saw it this morning."

"Oh."

"So?"

"Well..." now that it came time to tell Scorpius he felt rather stupid.

* * *

"Hey guys?" said Annabel as they sat down.

"What?" asked Clarice.

"I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, okay," said Rose, "What about?"

"Well..." said Annabel, "I sort of........thinkI'mstillinlovewithAl!"

The entire thing came out in a rush that neither girl could understand.

"What?" asked Rose.

"I.....I think I'm still in love with Al."

**A/N: So...what was Al going to tell Scorpius? REVIEW! (and think outside the box, it might not be what you think it is...)**

* * *


	27. Surprises

"Scorpius, you're my best mate, but I need to say this," said Albus.

"Okay," said Scorpius, looking inquiringly at his best friend.

"I'm kind of worried about Rose--" but Albus was cut off by Scorpius, who said, "Why? Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she is _now_."

"What do you mean?"

"Listen, mate, I really like you, and she does too, but if you ditch her again--" but again Albus was interrupted.

"I didn't ditch her, she ditched me!"

"Yeah, but that's twice this year!"

"It won't happen again."

"It better not. It really messed her up. She was barely eating, not sleeping. It was bad, you wouldn't know cause you weren't around her."

"In case you've forgotten I was bad to."

"Yeah, but after what happened at your detention I think--"

"How did you know about that?"

"Well, Rose told Clarice and Annabel in confidence, and--"

"Dammit Annabel, she'd tell you anything..." grumbled Scorpius, before saying, "I know you're worried about her, but you don't need to be. I would never end it....ever. I really do love her."

"Okay," said Albus, he was more than ready for this awkward conversation to be over.

* * *

"You're still in love with Albus?" asked Clarice in shock.

"I think so....I was trying to get over it, but I can't!"

"Annabel, you need to tell him," said Rose.

"Tell him? Are you mental? I've already been dumped once, and I don't really want to repeat the experience!"

"But you've _got_ to," said Rose, "Otherwise you'll always wish you had."

"I....alright, I'll tell him, but not yet."

"Why not?" asked Clarice, "Now's as good a time as any."

"No, it's not. If he likes me back and we get together I'll be really distracted from my exams, and if he doesn't my heart will break and I'll fail my exams."

"Good point," said Rose, "But do it right when exams are over, before we leave Hogwarts."

"I---okay."

* * *

The last day of exams was Friday, June 1st, which was also Clarice's birthday. They had their Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, and then Rose and Clarice went to dinner. The rest of them disappeared, much to Clarice's annoyance.

"I wish I'd heard from James..." she said moodily as she poked at her baked potato, "I can't believe he forgot...."

"I'm sure he didn't," said Rose.

"It looks like it...." muttered Clarice.

"How about we go up to the Heads Room and relax a bit? We can play exploding snap."

"Sure," said Clarice, in truth she didn't much care.

When she reached the Heads' Common Room Clarice said, "Albus Dumbledore" and the door swung open.

"SURPRISE!!!" came a shout from in the room. Lysander, Lorcan, Lily, Hugo, Sydney, Rachel, Scorpius, Albus, Annabel, Roxanne, and Fred were all there. Clarice broke into her first true smile that day. She was traveling around the room, hugging everyone in sight when a voice she knew very well said, "What? No hug for me?"

James had just pulled off his invisibility cloak in time for Clarice to run over and throw her arms around his neck. They kissed fiercely for a moment, before breaking away to look at each other. "Happy Birthday," he whispered.

She grinned and said, "I knew you wouldn't forget."

"Not true!" piped in Rose, "She was very worried when she hadn't heard from you. It was down right depressing...watching her mope around. I could've given her the Eiffel Tower and she wouldn't have cared."

Clarice rolled her eyes as the rest of the group laughed.

"I got you something," said James.

"I thought _you_ were my present," replied Clarice.

"Okay. I'll take it back then," he joked.

She giggled and said, "No! Give it!"

"Alright," said James, with an overly dramatic sigh, "Later. Let's enjoy the party."

Everyone was ecstatic about the end of exams, which only heightened the excitement around the room. There was fire whiskey, butter beer, crisps, and a large birthday cake. People started to trickle out at about midnight, making sure not to get caught, because of how much trouble Rose and Scorpius would get into. By about one in the morning it was just James, Clarice, Rose, Scorpius, Annabel, and Albus.

"You know what?" said James. They were all sitting by the fire, Clarice and James on one end of the couch, with Rose and Scorpius on the other, and Albus and Annabel sitting in the two armchairs.

"What?" asked Clarice.

"I've decided I like Lorcan, I think he'll be a good edition to the family," replied James.

"You act like their getting married!" giggled Rose.

James shrugged, "You never know. Any boyfriend could end up the husband. Why do you think we gave Scorpius psycho analysis before letting him into the group?"

"But we weren't even dating!" protested Rose.

"Yeah, but it was obvious to _everyone_ (except you of course) that you would," James said with an eye roll.

After a few minutes Rose fell asleep on Scorpius' shoulder. "Hey Rosie," he whispered, but when she didn't stir he carried her up to her room, and then retreated to his own.

"Well, I'm going to bed," said Albus.

"Me too," said Annabel, and they stood up to leave together. _Tell him_ she commanded herself, _it's the perfect opportunity._

As they left Clarice said, "You still haven't given me my present."

"Your right," said James, taking a small wrapped box out of his pocket, and sitting up.

* * *

"Hey Albus," said Annabel as they walked, she would have to leave him soon, to head down to the kitchens, so she needed to do it now. She was determined to do it now.

"Yeah?"

"I need to tell you something."


	28. The Key to Success

Clarice picked up the box, which was wrapped in silver paper. She unwrapped it carefully to uncover a ring box. _What? _she thought, _He _can't _be asking me to marry him! We've only been dating six months! I don't want to say no, but I'll have to! It's too soon! I wish he _had_ forgotten about my birthday!_ Trying to hide her panic attack she took a deep breath and opened the box to find....a key? She picked it up, carefully. It was silver, very modern looking.

She looked inquiringly at James and said, "What's this go to?"

He smiled brightly and said, "Oh, nothing....Just my new apartment." _Oh my god!!! _Thought Clarice, _I'm glad he didn't forget!_ She lunged forward and kissed him. She was so excited. Moving in was _way_ better than getting married. I mean, she wanted to get married eventually...but the commitment was too much for her.

"So...is that a yes to the question I never got to ask?" said James as they broke apart.

"Yes," said Clarice, beaming.

* * *

"What's up?" asked Albus, stopping to get a better look at her. _She couldn't have found out, could she?_ he thought desperately.

"We--we need to talk," she tried to sound firm. _What if I chicken out?_ she panicked.

"About what?" _Oh no, she definitely knows! At least she'll be nice about it...or she could yell again._

"Listen...you need to hear me out. I--" _I can't do this!_ "Ithinkthatweshouldtryagain!"

"What?"

She took a deep breath before saying, "I think--I _want _to try again. To try _us_ again. I really want it to work this time, because...I still really like you. I know that you don't feel that way about me, but I had to get it out there in the open."

Albus froze. _What? She actually wants me back, after all the horrible things I did?_

Annabel teared up a little, but kept her face basically composed as she said, "So, I guess that's the end of our friendship, but, I had to get it out there. Goodbye Albus."

It wasn't until she was at the end of the corridor that Albus unfroze. He barely had time to yell, "Annabel wait!". She stopped, and looked back at him. He ran over to her and said, "I want to try again. I have for a while, but I didn't think you'd want me back after all the terrible things I said and did."

She smiled and said, "So, forgive and forget?"

"Definitely," and for the first time in six months they kissed. It felt perfect, for both of them.

"Listen," said Albus, "I know it was awfully painful while it was happening, but everything we did brought us to this place."

"And I wouldn't have it any other way," finished Annabel, before leaning in to kiss him.

* * *

The next morning Rose and Scorpius arrived downstairs to see Clarice and James still asleep on their couch. As they approached Rose picked up the ring box and started hyperventilating, "Oh my God!!! He asked her to marry him!!! And she said yes!!! Oh my God!!!"

"She didn't say yes," said Scorpius, looking carefully at Clarice, "She isn't wearing a ring."

"If she'd said no they wouldn't both still be here. They're getting married!" squealed Rose in delight.

"No, they aren't," said Scorpius, taking the box from Rose and opening it to reveal a key.

"They're moving in together!!!" cried Rose in excitement.

"Dammit James," muttered Scorpius.

"What?" asked Rose curiously.

"The guy always has to steal my ideas..." he said, pulling out a gold key from his pocket.

Rose rushed forward and kissed him.

"Yes!" she said as they broke apart.

"So, I don't even get to ask?" he said in mock disappointment.

"Sorry," said Rose, "Go ahead."

Scorpius cleared his throat and said, "Rose Hermione Weasley, would you do me the honor of moving into my new apartment with me?"

She hugged him and took the key, saying, "Yes. But _I_ get to chose the decor."

"I was hoping you would. I don't want to bother with that."

"Good. Clarice and I can design our apartments together!" squealed Rose.

She was about to give Scorpius a kiss when Clarice and James awoke.

"Who's making all this noise?" grumbled James, but he was drowned out by a squeal from Clarice, who had spotted Rose's key.

"Oh my God! You guys are moving in together too? This is going to be AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!"

By the time that Albus and Annabel arrived hand in hand to tell the others their news Clarice and Rose had gotten out sketch paper, and were designing their respective living rooms. The first day term ended they planned to visit the two apartments together.

"Guess what?" asked Annabel, holding up her and Albus' joint hands.

"OH MY GOD!" screamed Rose and Clarice.

Annabel and Albus sat down, when they saw the drawings and the keys, and Annabel screamed, "You're moving in together!!!!!"

"Yes!" said Clarice in excitement, "That's what James gave to me for my birthday!"

"Great idea, mate," said Al appreciatively.

"The _best_ idea," corrected Clarice.

The entire afternoon passed in a floury of plans for the summer holidays, which they were delighted to say, started the next day.

**A/N: Hey! Raise your hand if I fooled you into thinking they were getting married! Raise it high! Did you really think I would do that? I try to be realistic. Anyway, hope you liked the Al/Annabel get together. I'll probably do one or two more chapters, and I have a plan for an epilogue, so this isn't over. Once this is over I'm going to really focus on my Lily/James story, which I sort of abandoned, so I would LOVE it if you would read that. It's called "Three Days Before Christmas". I really LOVE reviews, so hit the little bar at the bottom of the page!!!**


	29. Welcome Home

Annabel, Albus, Clarice and Rose boarded the Hogwarts express for the very last time, feeling both sad and relieved.

"I can't believe it's over," said Clarice, as they got into their compartment.

"I'm really gonna miss it," said Rose sadly.

"Well, I'll always miss it, but I'm glad it's over," said Scorpius.

"What?" asked Annabel, looking shocked.

"Well, now we're starting a completely new phase of our lives. We've been accepted into our choice careers, and now we can just go for it," explained Scorpius.

"I guess that makes sense," said Al, "but it's a little scary."

"Yeah. For the first time in seventeen years I'll be cooking and doing my own laundry, and it's sort of crazy," said Rose.

"Well," said Clarice, "At least we won't have to do it alone. We'll all be experiencing it together."

"Yeah. It's a shame we're not all living in the same place," said Rose, "I mean we're," she gestured to Scorpius, "living in Ottery St. Catchpole, Clarice and James are in London, Al's in Godric's Hollow, and I don't even _know_ where you are Annabel."

"I'm living in London too, but it doesn't really matter," said Annabel, "We can just floo or apperate."

"I guess..." said Rose.

"Anyway," said Albus, "We'll all see each other every week at the Burrow. Now that we're out of school we get to go to the Sunday dinner."

"What's 'the Sunday dinner?'" asked Annabel.

"Once we graduate from Hogwarts, and are considered 'adult enough' all the Weasleys and Potters meet every Sunday night at the Burrow and leave the kids at home or with a sitter," explained Rose.

"Well," said Clarice, "We," she gestured to Annabel and Scorpius, "Can't come."

"Yes you can," said Rose, "You're dating members of the family, which makes you part of the family."

"Thanks," said Clarice.

The rest of the ride passed pleasantly enough as they discussed their new jobs, homes, and futures. When they reached the station they collected their things slowly, and were the last to leave the train. They were unsurprised to see all of the Weasleys and Potters, plus the Malfoys, the Smiths, and the Longbottoms.

Clarice was at James' side, even though she'd seen him only the day before, and together they walked hand in hand over to the Longbottoms, presumably to tell them the news.

Rose and Scorpius went over to talk first to the Malfoys, and then to the Weasleys about their new plans, and Annabel and Albus were welcomed by the Potters with open arms.

* * *

Scorpius, Rose, Clarice, and James had met up the next day, and were flipping a coin to decide which apartment to see first.

"Ha!" said Rose triumphantly, "We win!"

"Fine..."muttered Clarice.

"Well, now we save the best for last," said James with a smirk.

Scorpius rolled his eyes as he grabbed Rose's hand to apparate. Rose grabbed Clarice's hand, and Clarice still held James' hand in her other one. They dissappereated to find themselves in front of the front door of an old-style farmhouse. It was white, with an old fashioned porch. Rose fell in love with it immediately.

"Do you like it?" asked Scorpius.

"I LOVE it," said Rose, taking the key from Scorpius and practically running to the door.

"It's a bit of a fixer upper," warned Scorpius, "but I couldn't let it pass. It's so close to the Burrow, and it's gorgeous."

Rose unlocked the door and grabbed Scorpius' hand to explore. The house still had an authentic country charm. It was two stories, with six bedrooms and six bathrooms, plus two half-baths. The best room by far, and the one that both Rose and Scorpius loved the most, was the library. It was HUGE. On every wall there were dark wood book cases, that already housed hundreds of books. There was a small area by one of the many fireplaces that had couches and chairs. The next best part of the house was the garden, which was out back. It wasn't too overdone, but still looked well-kept. There were roses, tulips, orchids, and violets. It was a magical place. By the time they came back out Rose was already making grand plans for the decor.

"I want to preserve the natural charm," she said, surveying the front yard, "Because it's so adorable this way. But, I still want to add my own personal taste. I'm thinking light blue for the living room. It was a good size, so we should be able to fit some great furniture in there. I want to keep the woods floors, but for the bathroom tile I want something white--"

"Rose!" said James, "We want to see _our_ apartment by tonight."

"Fine," muttered Rose, as they all clustered around James to disapperate.

They arrived right outside the door of the apartment. Clarice took out the silver key and turned the lock. She gasped. Unlike Rose and Scorpius' house the apartment had a very modern look. Stainless steel appliances, with light wood cupboards in the kitchen, which had limestone counter tops, and a dark stone floor. The living room, which was the room they had first seen, had wood flooring, and a huge fireplace in the far right corner. The wall directly across from the door was a huge window, from which you could see the most gorgeous view. It turned out they were on the thirty-seventh floor of the building, and you could see everything from Buckingham Palace, to the Tower of London, to Big Ben, to the countryside. The house had a very open floor plan, the living room moving directly into the dining room, which moved directly into the kitchen. To Clarice's delight, this house also had a library/office compound. On the back wall of the office was a set of book cases, and right by the wall a ladder that brought them up to a loft which housed hundreds of books. It was such a big apartment, that the only thing that made it one was the fact that it was in a building with others. In all other respects it was just like a house, and was just as big. There were four bedrooms and bathrooms, plus two half-baths.

"James, it's perfect!" said Clarice, "We'll have to start picking furniture immediately."

"Tomorrow," said Rose, "We can all go shopping!" Clarice nodded, but Scorpius and James groaned.

"Why don't you do it?" asked Scorpius, "You both know we don't care as much."

"But, you should be involved!" said Clarice.

"I'll like anything you pick," promised James, and Scorpius nodded.

"Fine," said Rose, "_We_ will go shopping for furniture, and you guys will go shopping for supplies, tonight we'll make a list of paint colors, and stuff like that."

"Fine," said Scorpius, "And then we can do the painting next weekend, cause we've got work all next week."

"Okay," said Clarice as Rose and Scorpius got ready to dissappereate, "Bye! See you tomorrow night for our first ever Weasley Sunday Dinner!"

"Bye!" called Rose, before they disappeared.

James gave Clarice a kiss, and as they broke apart said, "Welcome home."

**A/N: I've got one more chapter coming, then the epilogue (which will probably be in at least two parts if not three). Review, and tell me what you thought about everything!**


	30. Part of the Family

"Hello dears!" said Molly as James and Clarice apperated into their sitting room. "How are you settling in?"

"Wonderfully," said Clarice, "The apartment's gorgeous. You must come and see it when it's done!"

"I'd love to," said Molly fondly. _I've always liked her,_ she thought_, but going out with James is the best that could have ever happened to her. She wouldn't have made this type of a change in Albus...he's better off where he is. And they seem so happy..._

At the moment the only ones there were Molly and Arthur, Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione, George and Angelina, Teddy and Victoire, and James and Clarice. They spent the next few minutes chatting before the fire turned green, and out stepped Rose and Scorpius.

"Hey guys!" called Rose.

"How are you?" asked Hermione as they sat down, "How do you like the house?"

"It's perfect, mum. Just right for us!" said Rose, beaming.

"We'll have to come see it soon," said Molly, "We've already made plans to see James' and Clarice's apartment."

"That would be great," said Scorpius.

Eventually everyone arrived and they all sat down at the Burrow's dining room table and food was passed around.

"What'd you do with Lily?" asked Albus, looking towards his parents, "She's the only one in the family who can't come to this."

"She's out with Lorcan," said Ginny.

"That's nice," said Rose, "What's Hugo up to?"

"He's over at our house," said Angelina, "With Fred and Roxanne."

"So," said Harry, "Are you guys excited to start work? Scorpius and Rose, you're going into the Auror program I know, but what are you doing, Clarice?"

"I'm going to be a healer," said Clarice.

"Your parents must be very proud," said Audry.

"They are," said Clarice.

"We should have Neville, Hannah, Luna, and Rolf over sometime," said Hermione.

"I agree," said Fleur, "I feel az though we never see zem anymore. It 'as been ages.

"Clarice," said Hermione, "Would you pass the message onto your parents to come over next Sunday?"

"Sure," said Clarice.

"We'll tell Lily to tell Lorcan, and he can tell Luna and Rolf," said Harry.

"Excellent," said Molly.

Eventually the party broke up, and they all went home, ready for what the next day would bring.

* * *

As it turned out the next day brought something very special for several of them.

Albus was having his coffee when the screech owl arrived, carrying a large envelope. He untied it from the owl, and opened it carefully. Right before he broke the seal he thought _Well, I'm flying for Pudlemere United, anyway, whatever happens. _There was a single slip of paper in the envelope he took it out and read:

_Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests:_

_Albus Severus Potter has achieved:_

_Charms: E_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Transfiguration: E_

_Herbology: A_

_Potions: E_

He breathed a sigh of relief. Apparently he did have options after Quiditch after all.

* * *

Annabel was in the kitchen of her apartment, when a large barn owl landed in the window, carrying an envelope. She started hyperventilating. _Oh no!_ she thought desperately, _Oh no, no, no, no! Not my N.E.W.T.s please, God no!_ With fumbling hands she untied the letter and broke the seal. The sheet of parchment came out and she read:

_Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests:_

_Annabel Jane Smith has achieved:_

_Charms: O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts: E_

_Transfiguration: E_

_Herbology: E_

_Potions: E_

Her breathing evened up a bit. Thankfully, the Magical Law Enforcement Squad couldn't fire her, now that she had these scores to back her up.

* * *

"Clarice!" called James. He had been having his toast when the owl arrived. He didn't want to panic her, but she needed to see them. He had already untied them from the owl, but he wasn't going to open them without her there.

"What?" she called from where she was getting ready in the bathroom. She had her first day at work, little did she know that if her scores were bad they would withdraw her acceptance.

"Come here!"

"What?" she asked again, coming in. Spotting the envelope she stopped dead.

"Clarice?" he said in worry.

_Oh my GOD!_ she thought.

"Clarice?" he said, walking over and shaking her slightly.

She grabbed his wrists and said, "What if they don't let me be a healer anymore?" she looked close to tears.

"You'll be fine," he said calmly. With his encouragement she took the envelope, and with shaking hands opened it. They both read the parchment eagerly.

_Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests:_

_Clarice Alice Longbottom has achieved:_

_Charms: O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts: E  
_

_Transfiguration: O_

_Herbology: E_

_Potions: O  
_

She beamed, and James hugged her. "I told you," he whispered in her ear, and was glad to hear her laugh in response.

* * *

"Scorpius!" called Rose, she was hyperventilating.

"What?" he said, coming in, his shirt still not on.

"You'd better see this," she said, holding out the envelope that was addressed to him.

"Oh god..." he whispered taking it.

"Wait!" said Rose, "Let's not open them! If I failed they won't let me be an auror anymore, and Daddy will be so disappointed, and then--" she was getting faster and faster, until Scorpius said, "Rose, calm down. You'll do fine, I promise."

She took a deep breath and they got ready to open theirs at the same time.

_Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests:_

_Scorpius Hyperon Malfoy has achieved:_

_Charms: O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Transfiguration: O_

_Herbology: O_

_Potions: O_

_Arithmancy: O_

_Ancient Runes: O_

He breathed a sigh of relief and looked to Rose, whose eyes were still scanning the paper.

_Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests:  
_

_Rose Hermione Weasley has achieved:_

_Charms: O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts: O_

_Transfiguration: O_

_Herbology: O_

_Potions: O  
_

_Arithmancy: O_

_Ancient Runes: O_

She looked up to see a beaming Scorpius.

"Seven O's?" she asked.

"Yep. You?"

"Seven O's!" They kissed, and it was getting pretty intense, until Rose broke off and said, "If we're late on our first day my dad and Uncle Harry will kill us. Go get a shirt on!"

"I'm going, I'm going!" he said. Unlike Rose, who had gotten slightly better about mornings over the year, Scorpius still moved rather sluggishly.

* * *

When they arrived at the auror office to begin their first day of training most of the people there were beaming due to their N.E.W.T. results, and Rose and Scorpius were no exception. Ron walked right over to her, looking almost as nervous as she had been, and said, "Rose, your--"

"All seven O's!" said Rose, before he could finish, "And Scorpius too, Daddy!" it was a mark of how excited she was that she called him 'daddy'.

"Congratulations," said Ron, giving Rose a hug, "You too Scorpius," he said as they broke apart.

"Thanks," said Scorpius, beaming, not, because of his scores, but because he had finally been accepted by family, _all_ the family.

**A/N: Remember....REVIEW!!! This is the end, but I'm having an epilogue, but it won't be for a while, because my first quarter ends on Friday, and opening night in next week, so I've got tons of work. I'll try to get at least part one out soon! REVIEW!!!**


	31. Epilogue Part 1: Will You Marry Me?

It was a year later that Lily and Lorcan, whose relationship had lasted without event, attended their first Weasley Sunday dinner. They arrived a bit late, and sat down in the only two available seats.

"Where are James and Clarice?" asked Lily, looking up and down the table, which at this point was _extremely _long (so long that the Burrow's dining room had been magically extended _again_).

For some reason all the men sniggered. _What?_ Lily thought, _It's a legitimate question! Where are they? Why is this funny?!?!?!_

"They're not coming tonight," said Ginny. She and the other women were smiling.

"Well I can see that!" said Lily, "I meant _why_ aren't they coming?"

This was followed by a larger amount of sniggering from the men, and knowing smiles from the women.

"Well," said Ginny, "They decided to have dinner alone tonight."

"So?" asked Lily, she still felt like she was missing the joke. "It's not like they haven't had dinner before."

"We think he's gonna propose," said Fred,with a snigger.

"It's not nice to laugh!" said Rose angrily, "Wait till you try to propose, and think about all of _us_ sniggering about it while you're worried about if she'll say yes."

Scorpius and Albus sobered up at once, but no one seemed to notice as Fred said, "I don't even have a girlfriend!"

"Yet," said Rose, "Now, enough laughing at James' expense. We don't even know if he's asking her."

* * *

James and Clarice were having desert at their favorite restaurant in London. Predictably, Clarice ordered her favorite slice of Chocolate cake. As they talked James acted totally normal, something most men would not have been able to achieve.

As Clarice was about to take the first bite her fork it something...something metal. She carefully reached in and took out a small gold band with a circular sapphire on it. She gasped as James got down on one knee. Predictably, the entire restaurant went quite.

"Clarice Alice Longbottom," said James, "I've liked you ever since we met, and throughout the years I've come to love you more than anyone else in my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I promise to love you forever, every single day of forever. Will you marry me?"

The crowed watched as tears welled up in Clarice's eyes and she said, "Yes! A thousand times yes!" and they kissed. When they broke apart to tumultuous applause James slid the ring onto the third finger of her left hand.

"I love you," he whispered in her ear.

"I love you too," she said with a smile, as she leaned in to kiss him again.

* * *

The next morning James and Clarice apperated to Rose's and Scorpius' house before work.

Clarice knocked, and after about a minute Rose was at the door. She looked taken aback to see her cousin and best friend on the doorstep.

"What's going on?" asked Rose, "Don't you guys have work?" The family had assumed that he wasn't proposing, because they thought they would know before the night was over, so Rose was at a loss as to why they were there.

"Yeah, but we thought we'd stop by and see you," said James, stepping into the house.

"Okay..." said Rose. She looked to Clarice's left hand as they walked into the kitchen, but it was holding James' hand, and she couldn't see.

"Hey Rosie, have you seen my--" Scorpius broke off at the sight of two of his best friends in the kitchen. "What are they doing here?" he asked Rose, jerking his head in their direction as they sat down.

"Hello? We're right here!," said Clarice, at the same time James said, "What? Can't a bloke visit his cousin and her boyfriend during the early hours of the morning? It's not like we'd have anything to tell you..." his voice was layered with sarcasm.

"What's going on?" asked Scorpius. He too looked suspiciously down at Clarice left hand, but it still held James'.

"Well..." said Clarice slowly, letting go of James hand to brush some hair out of her eyes. Rose zoned in on the ring immediately and screamed, "You're getting married???"

She ran over to give Clarice a hug, while Scorpius said, "Congratulations, mate."

"We want you to be the maid of honor," said Clarice, looking at Rose.

"Me? Really? Thank you," said Rose, who looked close to tears.

* * *

That night the Longbottoms and the Weasleys found out together.

Calls of "Congratulations!" and "How wonderful!" were heard throughout the room.

"When's the wedding?" asked Annabel.

"Next may," said Clarice, "We want it outdoors."

"_We_ or you?" asked Albus.

"We," confirmed James, "I actually want to be involved in my own wedding."

"I'll need everyone's help, if you're willing," said Clarice.

"This will be amazing!" said Lily, "We can all plan it together!"

Soon, all of the women were talking over one another, trying to get Clarice's attention and their ideas approved.

Rose walked over to Clarice and said, "You sure you still want to get married, when this lot comes attached?"

Clarice rolled her eyes and said, "Yes."

"Well then," said Rose, giving Clarice a hug, "You must really love my cousin. Welcome to the family."

**A/N: That's part one...part two will be their wedding, and I won't reveal what part three will be....there may (MAY) be a part four, but only to tie up the loose ends, and get them all settled down. No more big drama. REVIEW!**


	32. Epilogue Part 2: I Do

Clarice, Rose, Annabel, and Lily all stood in Rose's room at the Burrow. It was May 9th, and Clarice's stomach was in knots. She examined her appearance carefully, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration. She wore a strapless white gown. The top was a tight bodice, draped gracefully, and then the bottom flowed out, a bit farther from her body, but still fairly close. Her auburn hair was curled so that it barely touched her shoulders, and she wore a headband that had sapphires embedded into it to match her engagement ring. The veil went under the headband and Rose was putting it in place, saying "You look stunning."

"Really?" asked Clarice, turning to look at Rose. She, Annabel, and Lily were all wearing sky blue dresses with elbow length sleeves, that were boat-necks. They were extremely tasteful gowns, that still kept the focus on Clarice, which was the idea.

"Yes," said Annabel, "Absolutely gorgeous."

Clarice turned back to the mirror and adjusted the head band as she said, "I don't know..."

The door opened, and Hannah Longbottom came in. When she saw Clarice she started to tear up, "Oh, sweetie, you look so beautiful!" she ran over and gave Clarice a big hug, saying "This is all happening so fast...I remember when you were just eleven and we were sending to to Hogwarts for the first time!"

"I love you, Mom," said Clarice as they broke apart, "Married or not."

"I love you too. And have a lovely honeymoon, and come visit us when you get back! Just because you're married doesn't mean that you can stop visiting!"

"Don't worry," said Clarice, "I'll be sure to visit, I--"

But she was cut off by the door opening again as Neville came in saying, "Clarice, you look so beautiful." He hugged her, and then looked at his wife and said, "Dear, you need to go sit down, we're starting soon."

"Okay," said Hannah, taking something out of her pocket, "Here," she handed Clarice a strand of pearls, "They were you're great-grandmothers. Something old, you know."

Rose took the pearls and clasped them around Clarice's neck saying, "So...she's got something old, something blue, something new, and something borrowed."

"What did she borrow?" asked Lily.

"The shoes," said Clarice, "They're actually Rose's, but they fit me so well," she looked down to her white heels.

"Well," said Hannah, crying slightly as she headed towards the door, "I love you."

"Love you too," said Clarice, before turning to her dad and saying, "Both of you. You were the best parents ever, even if you _did _purposely embarrass me in Herbology that one time."

Neville laughed and said, "That's my job," before continuing in a serious tone, saying, "I love you too."

"It's time," said Rose. The five of them went down the stairs and towards the door to the backyard. They stood waiting, and as the music started Lily and Annabel came out side by side. After a moment Rose followed. Neville took Clarice's arm, gave it a gentle squeeze, and stepped out into the yard. Everything moved slow motion for Clarice. She could see the violets and white roses that were throughout the garden and that matched the ones in her bouquet. She saw all of their friends and family...her grandparents, her great grandmother, all the Weasleys and the Potters, plus all of their friends. She could see Albus, Scorpius, and James' best friend Steven at the front by a small old man. But all of this occupied a small corner of her brain, most of it was focused on James..._her_ James, standing at the front of the room. His black hair standing up as it always did, though she could imagine the effort he had put into trying to make it go flat, she liked it better this way. All the men were wearing black dress robes with violet corsages (violet the flower, not the color). He looked even better than usual in her opinion, but that wasn't even what she was really focusing on about him. The look in his eyes was more valuable than anything in the world to her. He looked at her with adoration, love, care, and respect that was overwhelming. She still couldn't figure out what she did to deserve it, and she didn't think that she'd ever know.

When they reached the front Neville took her hand and placed in James. The service began, and Clarice cherished every minute of it. Finally, the crucial question came.

"Do you, James Sirius Potter, take Clarice Alice Longbottom to be your lawful, wedded wife?"

"I do," said James, his voice ringing with confidence.

"Do you, Clarice Alice Longbottom, take James Sirius Potter to be your lawful, wedded husband?"

"I do," said Clarice, her smile stretching, if possible, a bit wider.

"I now pronounce you bonded for life!" said the old man, and the crowed applauded as they kissed. When they broke apart they were passed from person to person, and surrounded by hugs and kisses from all of their friends and family.

* * *

As the party got into full swing Harry and Ginny watched Clarice and James dancing out on the floor very near to Albus and Annabel.

"And you asked him if it was all worth it..." said Ginny.

"Well, how could I have known this would happen?"

"Well, it worked out, and that's all that matters."

"Yeah..." Harry watched with pride as his eldest son held on to the love of his life. All the trouble that had taken them to this moment had clearly been worth it.

Meanwhile on the other side of the floor Rose and Scorpius were dancing, together, just enjoying eachother's company.

"It was a beautiful wedding," sighed Rose, as she twirled into Scorpius' waiting arms.

"It was," he agreed, looking over at James and Clarice, "But you know what?"

"What?" he stopped dancing, and she did to.

"Ours will be even better," and he got down on one knee and said, "Rose Hermione Weasley, will you marry me?" The entire party had stopped. No one moved, no one breathed, and all eyes were focused on Rose and Scorpius. He had opened a small, black ring box, and inside was a gold band, with a tear-shaped emerald in the middle.

Rose smiled as she said, "Yes." He stood up and kissed her, and the entire party applauded. He slid the ring onto her finger as they were surrounded by Annabel, Albus, Lorcan, Lily, James, and Clarice.

"Well, what do you know?" said Astoria, walking up to Hermione. The two were now close friends, and even Ron was comfortable around her now, and was cordial to Draco.

"Who would've guessed when they met?" asked Hermione.

"I did," confessed Ron.

"What?" asked both Astoria and Hermione.

"That day on the platform I told her not to get too friendly with a Malfoy, and just look what happened...I should've known." Astoria and Hermione were both about to protest when he said, "But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *


	33. Epilogue Part 3: The Wedding

Rose, Clarice, Annabel, and Lily were all in Rose's bedroom at the burrow. It was September 30, a year and four months since Clarice and James had got married, and three months since Al and Annabel had gotten engaged. Rose was looking in the mirror with satisfaction. She was wearing a strapless dress, with small lace sleeves that went just past her shoulders and were for decoration hair was left down, and fell to about her waist, curled in her naturally tight ringlets. Lily, Annabel, and Clarice were all wearing gold strapless dresses that fell to the knee and were simply belted, except for Clarice's which had lost the belt so as to better cover her nine-month pregnant belly.

"You look beautiful," said Annabel.

"Yeah," said Lily, "Amazing...I hope I look that good when I get married..." she trailed off dreamily.

"It's a while yet until you get married," said Clarice, "You're a bit young."

"Coming from the pregnant twenty-year-old," said Lily.

Clarice rolled her eyes, before turning to Rose and saying, "You do looking stunning. Here," and she handed Rose her bouquet, which held white lilies and red roses.

Just then Hermione and Ron entered. "Rose, you look perfect!" said Hermione, and the four bridesmaids stepped back to let Ron and Hermione see Rose, Clarice falling wearily into a chair.

Ron and Hermione both hugged Rose, and already Hermione had begun to cry, saying, "This is so wonderful, but I'm going to miss you so much!"

"Mum," said Rose calmly, "I'm not moving or dieing...we'll still live in the same house, and everything, I'll just have a different name attached."

"Hermione," said Ron, "It's time to start, you need to go sit down."

"Okay," she said, wiping her eyes, and kissing Rose's cheek. "I love you."

"Love you too, Mom," said Rose.

"I love you," said Ron, "And I know you'll be really happy."

Rose gave him a hug and said, "I love you too Daddy! Coming from you that means a lot."

"Ready to go get married?" asked Ron, taking her arm.

"Yes," she said with a dazzling smile.

Annabel and Lily left first, and then a moment later Clarice. When Rose and Ron came out the audience stood, and sighs filled the audience. Scorpius stood at the front with the old minister, Albus, James, and Lorcan. When Rose and Ron reached Scorpius and the small old man Ron took Rose's hand and placed it in Scorpius', and the look of pure joy on his daughter's face told him that this was the right thing for her. He took his seat next to Hermione, Draco, and Astoria, and watched eagerly.

* * *

Rose and Scorpius took to the floor for their first dance, and then Ron with Hermione and Draco with Astoria. Soon everyone was filling the dance floor.

"Hi Mrs. Malfoy," said Scorpius with a smile as Rose left her father to return to him.

She laughed softly and laid her head on his shoulder. "You were right," she said after a minute.

"I'm always right, but what about this time?" he asked with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes and said, "Our wedding was more beautiful than James and Clarice's."

He smiled, remembering that day so well. He'd been so nervous, but he really needn't have been. Looking back on it he seemed rather foolish, worrying about if it would turn out.

* * *

Across the floor Albus and Annabel were dancing together.

"So, ready for it to be our turn?" asked Albus as they waltzed around.

"Yes," said Annabel genuinely, looking down at the diamond on her left ring finger.

"Only four more months," he said.

"A January wedding will be perfect for us," she said, "There better still be snow. I won't have the weather ruining my picture-perfect wedding."

He rolled his eyes, saying, "I can imagine the grumbling I'd have to endure for the rest of my life. You'd tell the kids, 'the wedding _would've_ been perfect, but the _weather_....the _weather_ was _terrible_! Ruined the whole thing!'"

She laughed in spite of herself.

* * *

Halfway between where Rose and Scorpius were dancing and where Albus and Annabel were dancing James and Clarice were dancing.

"How's baby Clarice?" asked James.

"Baby _James_ is fine," said Clarice. James was hoping for a little girl, a miniature of Clarice, and Clarice was hoping for a miniature James. Obviously they would both be happy with either, because their baby already had them wrapped around its little finger, and it wasn't even out yet.

"How's Mommy?" asked James.

Clarice smiled, saying, "Mommy's fine, but a little tired."

"Come on," he said, walking her over to a table. He grabbed a glass of sparkling apple cider from the nearest waiter, and a glass of champagne for himself on the way. They sat down at a table and were soon joined by Ginny and Harry.

"How are you doing?" asked Ginny, looking at Clarice.

"I'm okay," she said, "My back just hurts, but nothing too bad."

"Don't worry dear," said Ginny, "When I was pregnant with James my back hurt all the time. I was pretty unpleasant to be around, ask Harry."

Harry nodded and said, "Clarice, what you don't get is that for a pregnant woman you're extremely nice." James snorted, remembering some of Clarice's most unpleasant mood swings, "No seriously," continued Harry, "When Ginny was pregnant, she'd--" but Harry stopped dead, and everyone knew why, water was starting to leak out of Clarice's dress.

"Her water broke," whispered Ginny.

James' eyes widened as Clarice suddenly gave a small whimper. "It's starting," she panted.

"We've got to get her to St. Mungo's" said James. No one had noticed what was happening, and James hoped no one would, he didn't want to ruin the wedding for Rose and Scorpius. Ginny, Harry, and James brought Clarice into the house and towards the fire place.

"No," said Clarice through pants, "I am _not_ flooing!"

"Why not?" asked Harry.

"Clarice, we've got to get you to the hospital," said James reasonably.

"The books say," said Clarice between pants, "That once you've started labor flooing could hurt the baby."

James paled, looking towards his mother for conformation.

"Damn," she said, "I'd forgotten about that. Harry drove me, but we were a lot closer....if you'd been at home in London you could've driven."

"There's only one thing to do," said Harry, "We're going to have to bring a healer here."

"Here?" asked James.

"Yeah," said Harry, turning to Ginny, "You get her set up, and I'll find Arthur, Molly, Neville, and Hannah."

"Try to be discrete," said Ginny, "Don't let anyone but Mum, Dad, Neville, and Hannah know, I don't want to spoil the wedding."

Harry nodded and disappeared into the crowd.

"Where should we take her?" asked James.

"I am _not_ doing stairs," said Clarice.

"We'll take you to the living room, and we'll shrink a bed, bring it down, and then unshrink it."

"Okay," said James, "I'll do that, and--"

"Stay here," begged Clarice.

"Okay," said James, looking towards his mother, "Mum, can you--"

"Yes," she said, "Take her inside."

* * *

Ten minutes later Clarice was lying in bed in the middle of the living room, all the other furniture having been pushed against the wall. Ginny had flooed to St. Mungo's, and a healer was on the way. James and Ginny were sitting by the bed when Harry walked in, followed by a crowd of people.

"What happened to only telling Mum, Dad, Hannah, and Neville?" asked Ginny angrily.

"Well," said Harry, looking behind him at what seemed to be the entire family, as if hoping one of them would answer for him. When no one did he said, "I told Molly, Arthur, Neville, and Hannah, but Ron and Hermione saw us going, and guessed what was happening, and then Scorpius and Rose asked what was wrong, and then...." he trailed off.

"I said to be _discrete_," said Ginny, "They need to leave," she said pointing at the crowed, "We just need Mum and Hannah, you lot can all wait somewhere else."

"But--" started Rose, before Clarice growled, saying, "Rose, when I'm _not _having a baby I'll explain my reasoning!"

All the men and women who had had children tried not to snicker, while those that hadn't looked confused. The crowed left slowly and filed into the kitchen. By now Rose had changed out of her dress and was wearing her travel outfit for the honeymoon.

"Why can't I be there?" she asked looking hurt.

"You won't want her there either," said Hermione, "I wouldn't let anyone in but Molly, my mum, and your father. Not even Ginny."

"But _why_?" asked Rose.

"Because," said Hermione, "Having a baby hurts like hell, and no one is very nice during it, and no one wants to see anyone except people who can help, like mothers and healers, and their spouses."

"Oh," said Rose, looking less hurt, but still confused.

Six hours later most people had left. Rose was asleep on Scorpius' shoulder, Neville and Harry were pacing, and Ron and Hermione sat with somewhat amused expressions, but everyone else had gone home. Clarice's screams could still be heard from inside the living room.

* * *

It had been ten hours, and still Clarice pushed.

The healer, whose name was Amy Clearwater, pulled James, Ginny, and Hannah aside for a moment, while the assistant healer, Emily Johnson, continued to help Clarice push. "Prepare yourselves," said Amy quietly, "She might not make it."

"What?" asked James. He looked like he'd just been punched in the gut, and still hadn't figured out how it had happened. Hannah had started to cry silently.

"We're doing our best, Mr. Potter, but the odds aren't good, and the only sure way to save her would kill the baby" said Amy. She continued over to Clarice, who was deathly pale. James stood stalk still, as if looking out from his own, personal hell.

"James," croaked Clarice, as she waited for another contraction to push from.

"Yes," he said, walking over to her.

"Listen to me," she grabbed his hands, and looked right at him, "If you have to chose--"

But he cut her off saying, "Don't say that! You're both going to be just fine."

"James," she said, "Please," she looked close to tears, "If they ask you to chose, you have to pick him. He's more important."

"Clarice, I--"

"James! Please. It's my last wish. Please, take care of him, raise him well, and let him know how much I loved you both."

James was crying now, "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," she said, and with a great effort she smiled.

James walked over to Amy and said, "Please, do whatever you can for her, but, if the time comes to pick..." he trailed off, because he just couldn't voice it, because that would make it possible.

"I understand," she said, "We'll do everything we can."

* * *

The morning of October first dawned bright and early. Scorpius, Rose, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Harry were all asleep in the kitchen, when they were woken by a baby's cry.

Neville stood up the moment he heard it, and made it to the door to the living room in two paces, though the distance normally took a normal adult at least eight. He opened it to find himself face to face with Hannah, who was crying.

**A/N: I'll update soon so you can meet the baby, I already have the next part of the Epilogue planned out, so all I have to do is write it down. There are going to be about two more parts to the Epilogue (yes, longest epilogue ever, but I just want to show you the highlights that will take them to where the story can really end. I have to admit I cried writing this, so tell me if I'm just too attached to my characters, or if it was really that moving.**

**XOXO GossipGirlHere  
**

* * *


	34. Epilogue Part 4: New Edition

"Hannah? What's wrong?" asked Neville desperately. She wasn't normally one to break down, and when she did it meant she was really worried.

Hannah shook her head, saying, "So close..." before hugging Neville very tightly.

Neville peered around Hannah's shoulder in trepidation. _'So close'_ he thought, _So close to _what_? What the hell does that mean?_ He looked in to see James sitting on the edge of Clarice's bed, looking at a tiny baby who she held in her arms while propped up on her pillows.

"He's perfect," whispered James, before kissing Clarice's head and saying, "You're perfect."

She smiled, saying "He looks just like you. I _told_ you he would," she gave a triumphant smirk.

"Fine...the next one will look like you."

"We'll see," she said, "I'm hoping they _all_ look like you."

"He's got your eyes," said James, "Mine are lighter than that. Those are _your_ chocolate eyes."

"Well, that's _your_ mouth."

"And _your_ nose."

"You want to hold him?" she asked.

He nodded, and took the baby from her. Everyone began to come in, looking from James, who was smiling in awe at the baby in his arms, to Clarice, who was watching James and the baby fondly, leaning back on her pillows looking exhausted, to Ginny, who was slumped in a chair breathing heavily.

"Hey sweetie," said Neville, walking over to Clarice's bed, "Can we meet him?"

"Sure," she said. James handed her back the baby, but kept his place next to her on the bed. "This," she continued triumphantly, "is Tristan James Potter."

"He's beautiful," said Rose.

"You'll be the godparents, right?" said Clarice, looking at Rose and Scorpius.

"What?" asked Rose, looking shocked, "But what about Al or Lily? We'd love too, but--"

"We're going to have other kids," said Clarice, "the healer says that the next time won't be nearly as dangerous....it's just that Tristan was a bit early, which created some complications."

"Of course we will, then" said Rose, looking teary, at the same moment that Neville said, "Dangerous? What do you mean Dangerous?"

"Wait, no one told you?" asked Clarice.

"Told us what?" asked Scorpius.

"Well," said Amy, walking over from where she'd been writing in Tristan's new file, "There was a large chance that Mrs. Potter would die."

"WHAT?" asked Neville.

"Dad, I'm fine," said Clarice, "I really am. It was most important for Tristan to be okay."

Neville nodded, but still looked unhappy.

"You want to hold him?" she asked.

Neville nodded again, but smiled, walking over and taking the baby in his arms.

Everyone took turns holding the baby, and after a few hours James and Clarice took him home.

When they arrived they walked up to the nursery, which was painted pale yellow, and set Tristan in his crib. He was fast asleep, and for a few minutes they just watched him, enjoying being a complete family.

"I'm going to take a couple days off work," said James, "to get to know him."

"We'll have to go back eventually," she said sadly.

"Well, yeah," said James, "But my mum works at home, writing for the Quiditch column of the profit, and--"

"No. We are _not_ forcing him on your mother. I'm sure she's got quite enough to do."

"She'd love to take him, though. She offered a few weeks ago, and I forgot to mention it. Obviously, we won't be going back to work for a while, but when we do she said she would take him during the day."

"Well....okay," she said with a smile. After one last look at Tristan they went to bed, still reveling in the joy they felt over the new edition to their family.

**A/N: Did you really think I'd kill her? It might be more realistic to have her die, but I'm too attached to my characters for that, I don't know _how_ J.K.R. can kill so many of them off without going into periods of depression. REVIEW and tell me how you liked it! Only one more chapter to go...unless I get a ton of reviews saying they want a whole new story about them as adults...I think it's ending in a good place though. I need one more part of the Epilogue to wrap it up, and I'm looking for baby name suggestions for Al and Annabel, Scorpius and Rose, and James and Clarice. They'll all have a fair number of kids, so I can use more than one of the names suggested.**

**XOXO GossipGirlHere  
**


	35. Epilogue Part 5: Back to Hogwarts

"Guys! We're going to be late!" called Rose. She and Scorpius were standing at the front door, waiting for their kids to come down.

"Coming!!!" came a boy's excited voice.

Rose grumbled something that sounded like, "won't be so happy if he misses the train..."

Scorpius walked over to her and put a hand on her stomach, whispering "Calm down, your blood pressure doesn't need to get any higher."

Rose took a deep breath, "Sorry."

"Ready!" said a boy with blond hair and gray eyes as he tore down the stairs, a curly redhead with brown eyes following behind him.

"Where's Eloise?" asked Scorpius.

Before either could answer a small girl who looked no older than three came toddling down the stairs, tears running down her cheeks. She had straight, blond hair, and deep blue eyes. "Ed!!! Cassie!!! Wait for me!!!"

"Ugh!" said Ed, "You're so slow! We're gonna miss the train!"

"Edmond!" said Scorpius, picking up Eloise as she reached him, "Be nice."

"Sorry Eloise," dragged Edmond.

"Cassie," said Rose expectantly.

"Sorry," mumbled Cassie.

"Good, now let's go," said Rose briskly, leading the way out to the car.

* * *

"Why do _we _have to go, Dad?" asked a girl with long, straight, black hair like her parents, and green eyes like her father, "None of _us _is going this year!"

"Because," said Albus, "Tristan, Edmond, and Andrew are all going, now go get your coat."

"Dad!" she whined.

"Amy," he said warningly.

"Ugh! Fine." she said, stalking off towards the coat closet.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" came a boys voice as he ran towards his father. Though neither of his parents were redheads he was **[yes people, it happens. i'm a redhead, and neither of my parents are]** and his eyes were brown like his mother's.

Albus picked him up and swung him around in the air.

"Be careful!" said an extremely pregnant Annabel coming down the stairs and into the hall, "Laurence, go get your coat, it's freezing out. Much too cold for September."

"I've got it!" said Amy, arriving with her coat on, and Laurence's in her hand, "Here you go Laurie!"

"Thanks!" said Laurence, putting on the coat.

"Sophie?" called Albus, looking around for his daughter.

"Coming," said a girl blazing red hair like her brother's as she trotted down the stairs, her coat in one hand, and a book in the other. Despite being only five she was an accomplished reader (third grade level books are impressive to five year olds).

"Good," said Clarice, before turning to the others and saying, "Ready?"

"Yep!" said Laurence, as he eagerly led the way out to the car.

* * *

"Come on guys!" said Clarice, who was waiting impatiently by the front door.

"Ready!" said a boy with jet black hair and deep chocolate eyes.

"Tristan, is there _really_ a charm on the boat that makes one first year fall in?" a second boy, who also had black hair, but with much lighter brown eyes.

"Andrew, don't be silly," said Clarice, "You will _not_ fall in the lake," she then turned to Tristan, "And I don't want you telling him any more lies, understood?"

"Yes, mum," said Tristan sulkily.

"Why can't _I_ go to Hogwarts too?" asked a small girl with auburn hair and deep chocolate eyes, who was the spitting image of her mother.

"Sweetie," said James, coming in carrying a small redhead, who's hair was more vivid and Weasley-ish than her older sister's, but who had the same deep chocolate eyes, "You'll go eventually."

"But I want to go_ now_!" she said.

"Me too!!!" said the girl in James' arms, "Why can't Maddie and I go?"

"Because you're too young," said James, and when the girl continued to pout he started to tickle her.

"Daddy! Stop! Daddy!" said the girl between fits of giggles.

"What's that Katie?" he asked in mock confusion, "You want more?"

"No!!!" she said, giggling madly, "Daddy!"

"James," said Clarice with a smile, "They'll miss the train."

"Alright," he said, as he stopped tickling Katie, and they headed out the door.

* * *

"Hey Maddie!" said Cassandra as the Malfoys approached both sets of Potters.

"Hey Cassie!" said Maddie. As the two immersed themselves in conversations about which houses they would be in Katie, Laurie, Sophie, and Eloise were playing tag.

"Watch it!" called Tristan, as Eloise shot by him, "Bye mum! Bye dad!" he called to his parents, "I've got to go! Ben, Oliver, Colin, Emily, Emma, Alice, and Violet are waiting for me!" Ben, Oliver, and Colin were his best guy friends, and they always hung out with Emily, Emma, Alice, and Violet.

"Bye!" said James, as Clarice called, "I love you! Write soon! Don't go getting into trouble on the first day!"

Tristan rolled his eyes at his mother's antics, waved, and departed.

"We'd better go if we want our own compartment," said Andrew to Edmond.

"You're right. Bye mum! Bye dad!" called Edmond.

"Bye Ed! See you at Christmas!" called Scorpius to his quickly retreating son, as Rose cried, "Love you!"

"Bye sweetie!" called Clarice as James said, "Bye! Have a good term!"

"Bye guys!" called Andrew, before following quickly after Edmond.

As they all stood on the platform waiting for the train to depart Clarice walked over to where Annabel had sat down and was talking to Rose.

"How are you guys feeling?" asked Clarice, looking concernedly at her two best friends.

"Not bad," said Annabel, "Just back pain."

"Morning sickness," was all Rose said.

"Sorry," said Clarice sympathetically. Having given birth four times, she knew how terrible it was to be pregnant. _But,_ she thought, as she watched the little children playing tag, as James, Albus, and Scorpius chased them around, _Completely worth it._

"Have you and Al decided on a name yet?" asked Rose.

"Yes," said Annabel, "If it's a girl it'll be Alexandra, but we'll call her Lexi, and if it's a boy it'll be Danial."

"Those are beautiful names," said Clarice, before turning to Rose and saying, "What about you? Have you and Scorpius picked a name?"

Rose nodded, before saying, "Beatrice for a girl and Orion for a boy."

"Those are perfect," said Annabel.

Rose was about to reply when the whistle sounded and the train started to pull from the station. Annabel stood up and they walked over to stand with their families on the edge of the platform, waving as Andrew, Edmond, and Tristan zoomed away.

"Well," said Annabel, looking around for Amy, Laurence, and Sophie, "Come on! Time to go home!"

"Bye Aunt Rose! Bye Aunt Clarice! Bye Uncle Scorpius! Bye Uncle James!" called Amy as they left, while the two little ones waved, as they left Amy could be heard saying "That's it? We got up early and got in the car for _that_?"

"We'd better go too," said Clarice, taking Madeline's hand as James picked up Katie.

"See you later!" called James as they left, while Katie called, "Bye bye!"

"Come on now," said Rose, "Let's go home."

"Daddy!" said Eloise.

"Yeah, sweetie?" he replied.

"Will you carry me?"

"What's the magic word."

"Please?"

"Hmmm," he pretended to think about it before grabbing her quickly, letting her swoop through the air, and planting her on his shoulders.

As they left the station Rose thought, _This is the family I've always wanted,_ she glanced back at her husband and toddler, then to the seven year old holding her hand, and lastly she put a hand on her stomach, _and now I've got it._

* * *

**I thought I'd give you a list of the new kids and their ages at this point in the story (plus their future houses):**

**Clarice and James' Kids:**

**Tristan James Potter: 13 years old--Gryffindor  
**

**Andrew Neville Potter: 11 years old--Ravenclaw  
**

**Madeline Clarice Potter: 7 years old--Future Ravenclaw  
**

**Katherine Alice Potter: 4 years old--Future Gryffindor  
**

**Rose and Scorpius' Kids:**

**Edmond Henry Malfoy: 11 years old--Future Ravenclaw  
**

**Cassandra (Cassie) Silvia Malfoy: 7 years old--Future Gryffindor  
**

**Eloise Regina Malfoy: 3 years old--Future Ravenclaw  
**

**Albus and Annabel's Kids:**

**Amelia (Amy) Susan Potter: 10 years old--Future Gryffindor  
**

**Laurence (Laurie) Theodore Potter: 5 year old--Future Gryffindor  
**

**Sophie Elsbeth Potter: 5 years old (Laurence's twin)--Future Ravenclaw  
**

**

* * *

**

**A/N: This is the LAST part of the epilogue, so I would really appreciate it if all 50-sum of you who have this story on alert could review and answer these questions:**

**If you read "When Fate's on Vacation" did you think I kept the character's personalities believably the same? (I'm worried they may have changed more than normal people would in a year).**

**If you read "When Fate's on Vacation" which of these two stories did you like better? Why?  
**

**Which couple is your favorite? (I want to see if I'm really writing them all equally well).**

**Does it seem like I have a favorite? (I want to keep the attention each character gets the same, and not let my bias into it).**

**Did you like the story?**

**What about my writing would you change?**

**What about the plot would you change?**

**When writing the character Tristan I _considered _(key word _considered_) doing a separate story about his life at Hogwarts with all his friends, but only if people are interested. Do you think this is a good stopping place, or should I continue on? It's just that I found him an interesting character to write, because their are obviously similarities between him and his dad, but I had a lot in mind when writing the character that could fit into a story...but only if people are interested.  
**

**If you could PLEASE Answer those 8 questions they would really help me be a better writer, and they would tell me if it was a good story. ****(Also, I'd LOVE to hear what you think of the baby names and of this chapter in general, like any other review, also, if you had any different feelings about their future houses!)****There are tons of you who have this story on alert and haven't reviewed even ONE time, and I really want you to review at least ONCE before the story ends, and this is your LAST chance!!! I know I'm asking a lot in this review, but I really want some closure for this story, and I want to know if it really achieved all that I wanted it to.  
**

**I really love this story, and it, plus "When Fate's on Vacation" (they're a package deal in my mind) are my favorite stories that I've written. Thanks so much for reading them!!!**

**XOXO GossipGirlHere  
**


	36. Author's Note

**Hey guys!!!!! So I wanted to let you know that I will NOT be continuing with the story about Tristan, my heart just wasn't in the idea....instead, I'm going to be doing a story about one of my favorite character's from this story: James. James was a character that I hadn't anticipated getting attached to, and throughout the story I found myself not only liking him more, but also asking myself more questions about him. I'm going to do a story about his life at Hogwarts starting in first year, about stuff I mentioned in the story (like Steven and Marissa) and stuff I didn't mention, and I _might_ do the entire story over from his perspective, because there is a lot we don't see there....So, let me know if you would read it (cause if no one would than I wouldn't bother) and I'll post one more author's note here, to let you know if I'm doing it. If you have any requests I would LOVE to hear them! Thanks!!!**

**XOXO**

**GossipGirlHere  
**


	37. Another Author's Note

**Hey guys!!! I posted chapter one of my new James story so READ it!!!!!!!!!!**

**Thanks so much for sticking with this story until the end! It's been a pleasure and is my favorite story I've ever written (along with "When Fate's on Vacation"). Thanks!!!**

**XOXO GossipGirlHere  
**


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